To make the annatto oil, heat oil in a saucepan until it’s just barely hot, but not smoking. Remove the saucepan from heat. Add annatto seeds and let the seeds bleed red, then strain. Put annatto infused oil in a small bowl and set aside to use later.

Take beef out of the fridge. Let it sit for an hour to bring it to room temperature.

In a pot over medium high heat. Add ¼ cup of annatto oil to the pot. Once it’s hot, add half of beef in a single layer. Do not overcrowd. Let it brown without touching it, three minutes per side. Remove beef from pot and repeat process for the remaining half of the beef. Might need to do in 2-3 batches. If after frying the beef, the bottom of your pot if pretty burned, you can clean it out before you go the next step.

In the same pot, once all beef is removed, on high heat, add 2 Tbsp of annatto oil (if there’s not much oil left in the pot) then add the shallots, lemongrass and garlic and stir fry for a couple of minutes until soft, making sure to scrape the bottom. Add chopped tomatoes and ketchup then stir fry for several minutes until everything is nicely mixed together. Place beef, along with all of its juices, back into the pot and coat them well with the stir fry mix. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let it simmer (small bubbling) for 1 ½ hours until all the flavors have infused and the carrots are tender.

Make sure to occasionally skim the foam from the broth throughout the cooking process.

Serve with either noodles and eat as a noodle soup, or dip with French bread. Garnish with herbs and top with bean sprouts, chopped chili, sliced onions. Finally, squeeze a lime in each serving bowl.

Enjoy!