Chilli Beef Stir Fry

I'm thoroughly enjoying being a blogger for Farmer's Choice foods, and here is my latest recipe post for them.

This time I have used  their rib eye steak, Scotch Bonnet chillis and fresh ginger, all of which they provided.

 

A stir fry is a great way to extend meat - when you have meat as good as this, it can seem extravagant to serve it anything but plainly cooked, but the tenderness and succulence will lift a stir fry from  being a dull, everyday meal into something really special - and what's more, a steak that would only serve one when plainly grilled will serve two when stir fried.  But when stir frying a premium quality meat, don't simply chop up and throw in the contents of the vegetable basket, as you might with a bargain basement piece of chicken breast: put some thought into the preparation and the balance of ingredients so that everything complements the flavour and texture of the meat rather than concealing it. In this recipe, the crunchy pepper and the heat of the chilli and ginger really make the sweet, tender meat stand out!

 

So, here we go with the recipe.....

 

 

 

Chilli Beef Stir fry - serves two

 

250g rib eye steak

1 small onion

1 green pepper

1 Scotch Bonnet chilli

2 cloves of garlic

a knob of ginger the size of a man's thumb

2 tbs ShaoXing cooking wine (or dry sherry)

2 tbs light soy sauce

1 tbs cornflour

120ml beef stock

2 tbs oil (use groundnut or peanut oil if you can get it)

a few drops of sesame oil

 

Slice the steak into pieces about 1cm x 4cm and as thin as possible, about 3mm is ideal. Place in a bowl. Peel the ginger and grate half of it over the beef. Add the cornflour and 1tbs each of the wine and soy sauce mix well, using your hands to rub the mixture into the meat. Set aside to stand while you prepare the other ingredients. Good steak doesn't need a long marinating time, just a few minutes, but if you are using a less tender cut of meat, you can leave this for up to a couple of hours and it will help to tenderise it.

 

Cut the remainder of the ginger into small matchsticks. Crush the garlic, and deseed and finely chop the chilli.

 

Remove the seeds and stalk from the pepper and cut into approx. 3 cm squares. Peel the onion and cut lengthwise into thin slices.

 

Heat 1 tbs of oil in a wok or large frying pan and stir fry the meat until done - this will only take 1-2 minutes as the meat is so thinly sliced. Once there is no red rawness showing on the surface of the slices, it will be ready. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon, set aside to keep warm,  and add the remaining oil to the pan. When very hot, add the onions and green pepper and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add the ginger, chilli and garlic and stir fry for another minute.

 

Add the remaining wine (it will boil hard and create lots of steam!) then the stock and soy sauce, making sure you scrape any residue from cooking the meat off the pan and into the liquid - it has lots of flavour! Bring to the boil and return the meat to the pan. Mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes longer until the liquid reduces and thickens very slightly. Finish with a few drops of sesame oil.

 

Serve with rice.