Like phá lấu (stewed beef or pork organ with tamarind sauce), stewed beef spleen curry is a dish to eat with bánh mì, and it’s best eaten hot. The spleen is marinated with curry powder and the liver soaked in milk, then both are fried and stewed in coconut milk until the spleen is soft. Cooking for the family is also how my mother showed her love for us, and this dish isn’t as difficult as you might think. Time: the spleen marinates for 1–2 hours, and the liver sits in milk for 30 minutes. Ingredients 300 g beef spleen 150 g beef liver 40 ml fresh milk 1 bag curry powder (5 g) 100 ml coconut milk Fish sauce, Maggi seasoning, salt, pepper 1 small branch of ginger, rice liquor and vinegar The method also uses cooking oil and minced garlic for frying, and sugar, lime and chilli for the dipping sauce. The original gives no amounts for these. How to make cà ri lá lách bò 1. Clean the spleen Cut away all the fat sticking to the beef spleen. Rub the spleen well with salt, vinegar, ginger and rice liquor, then rinse it 3–4 times in fresh water. This is an important step. Next, boil water and bring it to the boil for 10 minutes (the original says “boil water and bring to boil in 10 minutes” and doesn’t say what goes into it). 2. Marinate the spleen and soak the liver Slice the spleen into medium pieces and marinate it with the curry powder, ½ teaspoon Maggi seasoning, 1 teaspoon fish sauce and a little pepper. Mix well and leave it for 1–2 hours. Pour the fresh milk over the liver so it covers every side, and leave it for 30 minutes as well. Then rinse the liver in fresh water and slice it into medium pieces. 3. Fry and stew Heat the oil, add the minced garlic and fry until it’s fragrant. Add the beef spleen to the pan and stir well. Then add the sliced liver and fry for another 5 minutes so it takes in all the spices. Pour in water to cover everything and cook until it boils. Pour the coconut milk slowly into the pan and bring it back to the boil. Season with 1 teaspoon fish sauce, ½ teaspoon Maggi seasoning and ½ teaspoon salt, let it boil once more, then taste and adjust to suit you. 4. Make the dipping sauce Mix fish sauce with sugar, then add a few drops of lime juice and sliced chilli. 5. Finish and serve Keep cooking the curry until the beef spleen is soft and the liquid has nearly cooked away. Turn off the heat. To serve, pour the curry into a bowl, add more of the sauce and eat it with bánh mì (the original says “add more sauce in step 5”, but the sauce is made in step 6 of the original, step 4 above). Share:
