Chilli Beef Stir-Fry

So it’s been an eventful few days. The puppy-sitting of Alfie is going well. The love affair with the brush continues. Although there is some competition from his new garden toy and a wellington boot! After a day of chasing him round the garden I went out with a few friends for a few drinks in Winchester.

About 8 or 9 years since I’ve done that! The night started well. We went to a pub called the Black Boy….best pub in Winchester, sat next to the fire and reminisced with my mate about the old days and the many stupid things we used to do. Anyway we only had one here then went up to a new cocktail bar. Sounded interesting so off we went…worst bar in Winchester. The place was called Mint Bar so I thought ‘well a  Mojito must be good’. It’s a cocktail bar and it’s called Mint bar. Stands to reason really. So we went in, I was greeted with that dreaded cheesy beat with some crappy female vocal on it that seems to be the norm in any bar trying to be trendy. I guess you’d call it generic chart dance music. Wankers. Anyway, we had committed to the place so I ordered a Mojito….worst Mojito ever. The girl just poured some crappy juice type stuff got a very small handful of mint chucked it in there chucked in a load of ice and filled it with really shite Bacardi…I think a proper Mojito should have good Havana club. Bacardi are evil. Anyway, all she then did was give it a stir and top it up with a bit more ice. Now I’m no cocktail genius but I’m pretty sure that is not how you make a Mojito. It was so sour and hardly had any mint flavour to it. And this is a cocktail bar! I mean you couldn’t even get a beer in there. If I was serving crap cocktails I’d make damn sure to sell beer. Ahh well. Enough of my rant.

Before we went out we had to cook dinner. I decided a stir fry would be good. We got some amazing rump steak from the Beacchcroft Farm Shop.  You could literally wave at the cows and pigs and lambs as you went in! Cool. Chilli Beef Stir fry it is! Really simple to cook and really healthy too. The prep takes a bit of time but as with all stir-frys the prep takes 90% of the time.

This will feed 4 people really nicely. We’re first going to marinade the beef so you will need.

Rump Steak 750 grams sliced into 5mm ish slices.
Fresh Ginger finely chopped
2 cloves Garlic finely chopped
1 Red Chilli finely chopped
Dark Soya Sauce
Sesame oil
Black pepper
Paprika 
Fish Sauce if you have it
Rice vinegar or White Wine Vinegar
Honey

ok so add the chilli, the ginger and garlic to a bowl. Now add 3 tablespoons of the soya sauce then a little splash of sesame oil, half a teaspoon of paprika a dash of fish sauce and about a tablespoon of rice vinegar. Finally add a good pinch of black pepper and a drizzle of honey. Mix together then add the beef and get in there with your hands and mix really well. Cover and put in the fridge. If you can give this about an hour or more then all the better. Try to give it at least 20 mins though.

While the beef is marinading prep the rest of the vege. We are going to finely slice all of the vege. You will need.

Fresh ginger about an inch finely diced
1 clove garlic finely diced
1 red chilli finely chopped
Mushrooms
Peppers – 2, any colour
onion
spring onions about 4-5
carrot 1 large or 2 medium
broccoli 1 medium
fresh coriander
water chestnuts really worth a try if you haven’t had them before. Just cut them in half
Chilli Jam
fresh noodles the choice of noodle is up to you.
half a lemon

1. Right before you do anything get a pyrex dish or something similar and put half the chopped spring onions in the dish. Get some tin foil ready to cover this dish. Ok so if you have a wok then get this on a high heat. If you don’t have a wok then use a large deep frying pan. Get the pan nice and hot then add some ground nut oil and add the beef. Fry this off in two batches. Once you’ve fried off the first batch stick it in the dish with the spring onion and cover with the foil. Do the second batch and chuck it in the dish with the rest of the beef and cover.

2. Put the pan back on the heat, add a dash of ground nut oil and a dash of sesame oil and add the garlic, ginger and chilli. Fry this off for 1 min then add the onion. Fry off for a further 2 mins then add the peppers, then the carrots then the mushrooms, then the broccoli and finally the water chestnuts. Give it about 1 min of stirring between adding each ingredient.

3. Add a dash of soya sauce then add the beef and mix well. Now add the noodles mix in well and chuck in 2 tablespoons of chilli jam and a splash more soya sauce and mix really well. Give this about 1 min the add the a handful of chopped coriander and squeeze of lemon juice.

Sorted. Chuck it on a plate and tuck in.