Kampot Pepper Lok Lak with Butter Pan Sauce

Method

1. Pat the steak thoroughly dry and cut it into 3 cm cubes. Toss with the chopped garlic, most of the oyster sauce (keep the rest for the sauce), the soy sauce, fish sauce, palm sugar and pepper, and marinate for 30 min. Take it out of the fridge 15 minutes before cooking so it cooks evenly.

   Add in this stepBeef sirloin steak (3 cm thick) 360 gGarlic cloves 4Oyster sauce 1¾ tbspSoy sauce 1 tbspFish sauce 1 tspPalm sugar (or light brown sugar) 2 tspFreshly ground black pepper 1 tsp

2. Slice the red onion very thinly and mix it with the rice vinegar, sugar and part of the coarse salt. It pickles lightly while you cook and cuts through the richness of the beef.

   Add in this stepRed onion ½Rice vinegar 2 tbspSugar (for the pickle) 1½ tspCoarse sea salt ¼ tsp

3. Toast the peppercorns in a dry pan on medium-low heat, shaking the pan, for 2 min until fragrant, then crush them coarsely with a mortar or the flat of a knife. Mix with the lime juice and the remaining salt and divide into small dishes.

   Add in this stepWhole black peppercorns (Kampot if possible) 1½ tspLime 1Coarse sea salt ½ tsp

   medium-low heat

4. Heat a generous part of the oil in a 20 cm pan on medium-high heat, crack in the eggs and fry for 2 min, spooning the hot oil over the whites so the edges turn lacy and crisp, the whites cook through and the yolks stay soft. Stand back a little, as the oil can spit.

   Add in this stepNeutral oil 1 tbspEggs 2

   medium-high heat

5. Heat the remaining oil in a 28 cm · 1× cast-iron pan or wok on high heat until smoking. Add the beef with space between the pieces (in the number of batches shown), leave it completely alone for the first minute, then turn the cubes to sear every side for 2 min per batch until a deep brown crust forms. Medium-rare (about 55 °C inside) is best. Transfer to a plate to rest.

   Add in this stepNeutral oil 1½ tbsp

   high heat

6. Turn the heat down to medium heat, pour the stock and the reserved oyster sauce into the same pan and scrape up the browned bits with a wooden spoon, reducing for 1 min 30 sec. When it coats the back of a spoon, turn off the heat, swirl in the butter until melted, then return the beef and its resting juices and toss to glaze.

   Add in this stepBeef stock 80 mlOyster sauce ¾ tbspUnsalted butter 10 g

   medium heat

7. Arrange the romaine, tomato, cucumber and pickled onion on plates and pile the beef on top. Serve with rice crowned with the fried egg, and dip the beef in the pepper-lime sauce.

   Add in this stepRomaine leaves 5Tomato 1Cucumber ½Warm cooked jasmine rice 400 g