2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into ¾-inch cubes

Marinade

1 teaspoon nuoc mam (Vietnamese fish sauce)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons canola oil

Lime-Pepper-Garlic Dipping Sauce:

2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes)
¼ cup water
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

Stir-fry:

3 tablespoons canola oil
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1 ½ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup soy sauce
Garnishes:
15 green or red leaf lettuce leaves
1 sliced tomato
Steamed jasmine rice, for serving

Directions

Combine all ingredients for marinade and add cubed beef. Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature, then pour off marinade.
Combine all ingredients for lime-pepper-garlic dipping sauce and let stand at room temperature.
Heat oil in a large sauté pan or wok at high heat. Add garlic, sugar and black pepper and allow to caramelize for a minute.
Add drained, marinated beef to the pan and stir-fry for 2 minutes. (If the beef can't fit comfortably in one layer in the pan, separate it into batches and divide the ingredients in step 3 accordingly.)
Add soy sauce and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Beef should be seared on the outside and medium-rare to medium on the inside.
Garnish a platter with the lettuce leaves. Mound the cooked beef on top. Garnish with tomato slices.
Serve lime-pepper-garlic dipping sauce on the side, or pour over the cooked beef just before eating. Enjoy with steamed jasmine rice.
Lettuce leaves can be used as wrappers for the beef.

I liked this recipe for several reasons. After I cooked it, it had a sauce to it. Normally this dish is sauce-less, besides whatever juices are coming from the meat. Or maybe I messed up but I like having saucy meat. Additionally it had a slight sweet taste too from the caramelized sugar. The recipe calls to make a lime-pepper-garlic dipping sauce but I disregarded that and just made the typical salt-pepper-lime to dip my meat. I will definitely try this again but add sliced onions.

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

http://www.salon.com/food/recipes/2011/02/14/shaking_beef_recipe