Photo of Red Lantern’s Grilled Sirloin with Chile, Garlic and Ginger courtesy of Secrets of the Red Lantern Cookbook
I love my friends!
I needed a few more shots for the cookbook, and asked my good friends Matt and Dannika of MattikaArts if he’d like to take a shot {pun intended..haha i soooo funny! snort.} at photographing some Asian ingredients and be published in the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook!
This all happened via email and I swear to Buddha that I heard him giggle.
<– this guy…he giggled in his email, I could hear it between the commas!
And look at the beautiful photos he took – they will be in the Ingredients section of the Steamy Kitchen Cookbook!
Click on the photo below for the slideshow – there are a total of 7 photos.
(click on photo for slideshow of 7 photos)
How could you not fall in love with this man???
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Cookbook Giveaway Winner
Time sure flies by…one minute I’m posting Red Lantern’s Crisp Parcels or Vietnamese Spring Rolls (Cha Gio) and giving away a copy of the caress-me-now cookbook, 
Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen – and then a week passes by. I was supposed to draw a random name as the winner. Oops! Got busy, missed deadline…so what’s another day? Well, then another week passes by and here I am, totally apologizing to you for being late announcing the lucky winner of Secrets of the Red Lantern Cookbook!
So, without further delay (cuz you know I’m good at that!) the winner of the cookbook is
Grace says:
Just by reading your post I’m completely sold and intensely craving spring rolls. I prefer my with bean thread/veggie/pork filling but when necessity and/or boredom strikes I grab just about anything from the fridge.
Congrats Grace! Email me your deets and I’ll have the publisher send the book to you: jaden{at}steamykitchen{dot}com.
Red Lantern’s Grilled Sirloin with Chile, Garlic, and Ginger Recipe
Bo Nuong Toi Gung
Two 1/2 pound sirloin steaks
2 handfuls shredded green papaya
1 small handful mixed herbs (perilla, Vietnamese mint, and basil)
1 tablespoon fried shallots
1 tablespoon dried shrimp, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes and drained
3 tablespoons dipping fish sauce
MARINADE
2 teaspoons pickled chili
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
¾-inch piece of ginger, grated with microplane grater
2 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
1 tablespoon superfine sugar
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
Pinch of salt
Mix all the marinade ingredients together until the sugar dissolves. Add the steaks and marinate for 2 hours in the fridge. Grill the steaks over medium to high heat, to your preference (6 minutes for rare, 10 minutes for medium), then rest the steaks for 5 minutes. Reheat the steaks on the grill pan, then cut into thin slices.
Serve with a salad of green papaya, mixed herbs, fried shallots, and dried shrimp, dressed with dipping fish sauce.
SERVES 4
Dipping Fish Sauce
Nuoc Mam Cham
3 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic
1 bird’s-eye chili
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
Combine the fish sauce, rice vinegar, ½ cup of water, and sugar in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir well and cook until just before boiling point is reached, then allow to cool. To serve, finely chop the garlic and chile and stir in the lime juice.
MAKES 1 CUP
Fried Shallots
Hanh Phi
½ pound shallots, peeled
4 cups vegetable oil
Finely slice the shallots and wash under cold water. Dry the shallots with a cloth, then set them aside on some paper towel until they are completely dry.
Put the oil in a wok and heat to 350 degrees F, or until a cube of bread dropped in the oil browns in 15 seconds. Fry the shallots in small batches until they turn golden brown, then remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.
The fried shallots are best eaten freshly fried but will keep for up to 2 days in an airtight container.
—Recipe from Secrets of the Red Lantern by Pauline Nguyen
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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Ironically, my sweetie just brought the Secrets of the Red Lantern home from the library last night and I didn’t even request it. I love it, it is such a gorgeous book. Every since I had a Vietnamese roomie in college I have been trying to perfect Vietnamese spring rolls. Those are beautiful photos. I can’t wait for your book!
Gosh, i only wish i could take pictures so pretty!
I think i’ll buy 350 copies of your cookbook and use the pictures as wallpaper for my bedroom.
photos taken under natural lighting are the best!
Well, of course he was giggling! And so was Dannika! But oh my – my eye teeth to be able to take such beautiful photos!!
And now I find myself craving Asian food. Love the sound of this dish – could you pass me some, please?
Fantastic photos by Matt. I guess there is hope for food bloggers wannabe (like me) in the Pacific Northwest to take great pictures. I need to learn the tricks of taking the pictures when the sun is not shining.
I just finished reading the memoirs in the Secrets of the Red Lantern. Now, it’s time to try some of the recipes.
My ingredients photos usually look like a pile of stuff I dropped on the cutting board, lol. This however is a fantastic photo (and that recipe sounds delicious, too)!
The marinade sounds fabulous. Very versatile too!
I love the shot of the cilantro, scallions, lemongrass, etc. Beautiful and green!
Luv all the Asian ingredients! Can’t live without them! Excellent shots!
Love the beautiful photos with the ingredients!
Oh wow, now I really want Asian food, even though I just had it last night!
Wow! Gorgeous…both the pic of food and Matt ;o)
Matt did a great job on the photos Jaden!!!
Even if the book didn’t have recipes, those photos will sell it. Yummy!