Vietnamese Inspired Shaking Beef Bowl

with tomato shallot rice, sautéed veggies, and tomato corn salad

Happy August 1st!

I feel like summer flew by this year, and I haven’t developed many new tomato centric dishes yet. I have needed to re-juggle priorities this year, and making content and my usual 1-3 recipes / week took a seat on the back burner.

I am excited to share however, that starting in 2 weeks (!!), I will be officially working full time back in the food world.

What will I be doing with my time? I will be spending the majority of my time working on Jackie’s Supper Club. I love sharing good, healthy food with people, and I hope to continue this with even more avenues. I also plan to spend more time and focus on developing recipes for you all home cooks. Expect to see a weekly dinner recipe and an occasional fun treat recipe (like those peaches and cream muffins :)).

It’s been a LONG time coming, and I can’t be more thrilled. It feels similar but different than the first time I made the leap and left my job to go to cooking school 5 years ago. I’ve learned so much about myself, what to appreciate about a “normal” job, and the values and priorities I want to instill in my own business.

If there’s anything I’ve taken away over the last few years and what led me to making this decision once again - is what I do with my time, is ultimately my decision. I understand the amount of privilege I have when making that statement, but I also know it to be true that it’s easy to be influenced by others and the expectations people have of you.

Of course I want my life to be filled with joy, family, and friends, so I can’t just do everything based on my own wishes. Finding that balance is what has been the biggest challenge for me so far, and I know it will only get tougher as life goes on. It may come easier to some than others (it feels tough for me), but I’ve appreciated this part of the journey.

Anyways, all of that is to say that you will only be seeing more of me from now on. Thank you all for being here, for making what I do possible, and for sharing the same love for delicious food.

In addition to subscriber only weekly new recipes, I now also plan to share 1 free recipe at the beginning of every month.

For those of you who are new here, I do also have hundreds of free recipes on my website, and I’m working on creating ONE CENTRAL recipe repository where you can more easily find all my recipes based on what you feel like cooking.

P.S - I am also STILL working on my master guide to vegetable sides. It’s getting close and I plan to share it this month. Lots of goodies so stay tuned!

Now, onto our recipe of the week ~

I’m really in my Vietnamese food era this summer. The last few dishes I’ve shared have all included some kind of lemongrass marinade or garlic lime sauce, and that’s just because I’m obsessed with these fresh flavors this summer.

This week, I’m sharing a “shaking beef” inspired bowl - there’s a garlic soy marinated steak, a tomato shallot rice, sautéed veggies, and a summer-y tomato and corn salad.

It’s balanced, fresh, delicious, and comes together in under 45 minutes. I can’t stop thinking about this bowl, and know you all will love it!

Notes and a little more about each of the components:

The ingredient list may seem a bit long, but it’s likely you have 90% of these in your pantry / refrigerator already. The veggie sauté is also VERY versatile. I wasn’t planning to include broccoli in this, but I had half a head left in my fridge, and it was delicious added in. This is a perfect recipe to use what you have in your fridge.

Protein marinade - simple garlic soy marinade made with pantry staples. skip the sugar if you prefer.

For the stir fry - versatile. use what you have (or what you’re craving!) You can use just 1 ingredient, or use up to 4 different veg like I did.

Tomato and Corn Salad - I keep the corn raw (I love the natural sweetness from raw fresh corn), but you’re welcome to char it for a few minutes if you prefer.

Nuoc Cham - a liquidy sauce that truly pulls the whole bowl together. Feel free to add a jalapeño or red pepper flake if you want some kick.

Tomato Shallot Rice - SO easy and a fun way to switch up your nightly rice routine (and add some extra protein with the quinoa). I do a ratio of 75% jasmine white rice and 25% quinoa and throw in all the other ingredients straight into the rice cooker pot. My Chinese ancestors would probably shun me after hearing this, but I don’t wash my rice when I’m making flavored rice. Mainly because I want to make sure the water to rice ratio is correct, and when you wash the rice, it messes with the water ratio. I know… I know… but to be honest, I don’t wash my rice a lot and it’s delicious and fine (and I get perfectly cooked rice every single time).

Home Chef tips:

• Use a high quality cut of beef - I recommend using either a hanger steak, beef tenderloin, or skirt steak.

• Start by cutting all the vegetables first - this way, you don’t need to wash your cutting board and you can keep your prep time to under 30 minutes.

• Toss all the tomato corn salad ingredients into a mixing bowl. Everything is going to get mixed anyways, so save yourself some dishes and add them straight to a mixing bowl.

• For the nuoc Cham sauce, if you don’t have fish sauce, you can substitute with soy sauce. It doesn’t have the same flavor profile so I highly recommend you trying this with fish sauce (I used to be skeptical about the smell, but it WORKS with everything and is delicious!)

• When serving and eating, use a fork and knife to eat the steak (don’t try to bite into the chunks of beef) - might be obvious, but you want to cut against the grain when you’re eating to get the best tender eating experience.

• Serve with the extra nuoc Cham sauce on the side. I love to spoon extra sauce over the beef along with the tomato cucumber salad.

• Every component in this recipe can be doubled or tripled.

Prep Ahead Options

• Veggies - sautéed veggies can be cut up to 2 days in advance. Store sealed in an airtight container. For the fresh tomatoes and cucumbers, I recommend cutting these fresh right before you eat, or the morning of.

• Tomato Shallot Rice - can be made up to 3 days in advance. Reheat with a splash (1-2 tablespoons) of water.

• Steak - best made fresh. You can marinate and keep in the fridge for 1 day. If you want it to last more than 1 day, I recommend using a vacuum sealer.

• Nuoc cham - can be made up to 5 days ahead of time. This sauce actually builds flavor over time (the garlic has time to marinate), and is better the next day.

Storage and Reheating

Storage: Store the cooked rice, sautéed veggies, and beef in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

You can store the tomato, corn, and cucumber salad in the same container, or another airtight container. I recommend keeping the extra nuoc Cham sauce on the side.

Reheating: Reheat the veggies, rice, and beef in a pan with a splash of water. Do not heat the tomato, corn, and cucumber salad.

Video Tutorial:

The Recipe:

Total Time: 45 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Shaking beef recipe 

• 1.5 lb beef tenderloin or hanger steak

Protein marinade

• 1.5 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1 tablespoon soy sauce

• 1 clove garlic, minced 

• 1 tablespoon of neutral oil 

• .5 tsp sugar 

• 1 teaspoon cornstarch 

For the stir fry

• .5 yellow onion 

• 1 bell pepper 

• ½ head of broccoli

• 1 zucchini

• 1 tablespoon of water

Tomato and Corn Salad 

• 2 large, ripe tomatoes 

• 3 Persian cucumbers

• 1 ear of corn 

• Handful Mint 

Nuoc Cham

• 2.5 tablespoons white sugar

• 2.5 tablespoons fish sauce

• 1.5 tablespoons of rice vinegar

• 1.5 tablespoons of lime juice

• .25 cup of water

• 1 clove garlic, minced

Tomato Shallot Rice

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• .75 cup of jasmine rice

• .25 cup of white quinoa

• 1 shallot, diced

• .5 teaspoon kosher salt

• 1.25 cups of water

Instructions

1. Make the tomato shallot rice using your usual method of cooking rice. I use the rice cooker, and add the rice, quinoa, diced shallots, salt, and water to the bowl. Give this a stir, then cook. You can also cook this over the stovetop for 20 minutes on low heat. After 20 minutes, turn off the heat and let this sit for 10 minutes. 

2. Slice the persian cucumbers into ¼” thin coins, cut the tomatoes into 1” wedges, and slice the corn off the cob. Add all these tomato salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl.

3. Dice the red pepper and onion into 1” pieces, cut the broccoli into 1” pieces, and half moon the zucchini. Add this to a large bowl.

4. Mince the garlic for both the nuoc cham sauce and the beef marinade. Add 1/3 of the minced garlic to a small bowl or glass jar for the nuoc Cham sauce.

5. Add the remaining minced garlic, cornstarch, soy sauce, and sugar to a large mixing bowl. 

6. Dice the steak into 1” cubes. Add the diced beef to the marinade and mix. 

7. Finish the nuoc cham sauce. To the vessel you added the minced garlic, add the sugar, fish sauce, lime juice, water, rice vinegar, and minced garlic. Mix to combine until the sugar is dissolved, then set aside. 

8. Heat a pan on medium high heat. Add a tablespoon of neutral oil and add the chopped veggies. Cook for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 3 minutes, or when you begin to see slight browning near the edges, add 2 tablespoons of water and a pinch of salt. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, then set aside. 

9. In the same pan, add the marinated steak. Cook on high heat for 4-5 minutes, shaking the pan vigorously every minute or so (you can also just stir it around), until the inside reaches 135F. 

10. While the veggies or steak are cooking, toss the tomato salad with the nuoc cham and assemble the rest of the plate - add a few heaping tablespoons of tomato shallot rice, charred veggies, and salad. Top with the cooked shaking beef, mint leaves, and serve.