Stir fried spicy beef

Stir fried spicy beef (serves 4 easy add another 100g of noodles and it will do six)

I have bought myself a new bicycle, I have been out a few times riding around town, but this morning was the real test, I wanted to put it and myself to the test, I had decided that I would see what it was like to do the trip to work on it (it may after all not been able to stay thr pace). Before setting off I wanted to put the beef into the marinade and recostitute the dried mushrooms,so that when I got home it would just mean slicing the vegetables and cooking the noodles (and making the stir fry of course).
So after doing the above I had a light breakfast of 6 plums and 4 apricots, put some dextros tablets into my rucksack along with my camera and bird book and of we went into the fields and woods on a nice route along the Ems. It took me 50 minutes to do the 10km, no stress stopped to take a few shots of a day old reh kitze (roe deer fawn).
I then went to on into Gütersloh, another 4km, for no other reason than I fancied a Matjes brotchen and I was parched (which stupid devil had forgotten to bring water, yes you guessed, moi). when I was sitting drinking my water (had a dextros tablet with it) and eating my matjes, it turned dark, nay it turned black, very black, now I ain't much of a hero at the best of times, but I am on antibiotics because of a soaking I got 3 weeks ago and I wasn't going to get another one, so I headed for the Main Station and caught the Munsterland Express (hee hee it stops at every farm stead on route, my idea of express is certainly different to theirs, but it is only one stop to Rheda).
Just got home in time, the heavens opened, it was pitch black, interspersed with flashes of lightening and claps of thunder, I even had to put the lights on to see what I was cutting. So enough of the palava onto the food. Oh yes before I forget a little fella wants to say Hi!

400 g rump steak in one piece

Ingredients for the marinade

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 dsp oyster sauce

1 tsp. Szechuan pepper (crushed)

½ tsp. of cumin seeds (crushed)

1 tsp. five spice powder

2.5² cm piece of fresh ginger

1 clove of garlic

1 large hot chilli

1 Shallot

A sprinkling of seseme oil

Method

Slice the beef into thin strips and place in a bowl.

Press the garlic, grate the ginger and deseed, finely dice the chilli (I will leave the choice up to you as everyone’s taste is different but I used a jalapeño)

add this to the beef along with the shallot, finely diced. Add the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sesame oil to the meat,

add the Szechuan pepper, the cumin and five spice powder mix a well, cover and allow to marinate for a couple of hours.

Stir fry vegetable ingredients

Neutral wok oil or any oil that has a high enough flash temperature and is neutral tasting (peanut oil or corn oil)

1 large clove of garlic crushed

1 piece of ginger thinly sliced

3 spring onions

½ each red, yellow and green pepper (they come in a pack so that is what I used)

White of a small leek

1 large carrot

Fine green beans, form your forefinger and thumb this is the amount I use (well it does for me but as I don’t know the size of your mits I weighed them 100g for you) top and tail.

2 sticks of celery

½ a large sweet Spanish onion (you can use smaller ones but I find that the large ones give longer slices and taste sweeter)

Bamboo shoots (out of a jar)

100g bean sprouts

6 small tomatoes, quartered then deseeded

10cm piece of daikon radish peeled and sliced wafer thin on a mandolin

Some shitake mushrooms (Fresh or reconstituted)

Some dried Chinese mushrooms (recostituted)

1 block (100g) of Chinese egg noodles

1 sachet of miso soup powder

Slice all of the vegetables into thin slithers or slices approximately the same size, boil the noodles as per the packet (mine was for 3 minutes) in the miso soup, drain and set aside (do not throw the soup away).

At the same time reconstitute your shitake and Chinese mushrooms allow to stand until ready to use, you can dice or slice them a little if they are too big.

Heat the oil in the wok, when it is smoking, add the crushed garlic and ginger, when it browns but not blackened remove and discard.

Add the beef but try not to add to much of the marinade, quickly stir fry, when it takes on colour, remove and set aside, it will have given off quite a bit of juice, remove from the wok with the beef

You may need another table spoon of oil, when it comes up to temperature, start adding the vegetables, starting with the onions,

The carrots and leeks

The beans, bamboo shoots, celery, then the peppers

 keeping them moving the whole time, if you have ever been to a Chinese kitchen and seen the speed and skill that they do it you will see what I mean, when I do it, the stove top has more on it than the wok has in it, but I will get there, I have only been practicing for 40 years.

Add the diakon radish and the bean sprouts (these take little to no cooking)

Add the strained mushrooms 

 keep that stuff in the wok moving, you can swing your hips in time if it helps, now add the noodles,

and finaly the beef,the rest of the marinade and any juices from the beef.

Taste the sauce and adjust with another slug of Say sauce and or oyster sauce, some like it salty some like it not so salty, the choice is yours, I left mine a little less salty as it is easier to add than take away!

Keep those hips a swinging and the ingredients moving. (You could do the noodles separate and serve at the side, but I like it in the altogether). Adjust the consistency by adding some of the miso broth left over from cooking the noodles, until it looks right to you. Pour into bowls and eat straight away, I know this is not authentic Chinese take away, but I don’t have those aluminium containers with the cardboard lids that leak, so I serve it in bowls that I brought back from Singapore many years ago