Grilled Beef La Lot

Grilled Beef La Lot This is a delicious Vietnamese recipe that my mother-in-law makes, Bo La Lot. All the ingredients can be found at an Asian market. If you can't find fresh la lot leaves, sometimes they can be found frozen. An acceptable substitute for the la lot leaves would be perilla leaves or grape leaves.

Ingredients:

3 lbs beef, thin sliced
3 stalks lemongrass, finely chopped
1/2 cup peanut oil
1 bulb garlic, finely chopped
1 shallot or 4 red pearl onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
La Lot leaves, sometimes referred to as wild betel leaves, (piper sarmentosum)

Steps:

Marinate the thinly sliced beef with the following ingredients for an hour: lemongrass, garlic, shallots, sugar, 1/4 cup peanut oil, salt, and pepper.

Wash the la lot leaves and let dry.

Place the leaf glossy side down. Put a piece of beef onto the leaf near the point of the leaf. Fold the meat in half if necessary, so that the meat is contained within the width of the leaf. Roll the beef up into the leaf. Place on a plate with the stem down, to keep the leaf from unrolling.

Heat your electric or charcoal grill.
Place a layer of the la lot rolls on to the grill, brush on some oil. Flip after about 2 minutes and brush on more oil and cook for another 1-2 minutes. The leaf will darken and shrivel when it is done cooking.