It was my birthday a couple of weeks ago and I was lucky enough to receive some fabulous presents. Amongst the gifts I received was a copy of Rick Stein’s Far Eastern Odyssey. At a recent party some friends of mine cooked dinner from that book and my fiance had obviously noted my appreciation for it so when I became another year older she presented me with a copy.
This is the first dish I’ve cooked from it. I wanted to try something that really seemed typical of the far east and this recipe with its hot chilli and marinated beef served wrapped in large lettuce leaves seemed perfect. The lime dipping sauce seems almost unimportant at first but really makes a huge difference in the flavour of the dish. Just make sure to cut the beef into small enough pieces for the leaves you’re using!
Serves 4
500g rump steak, cut into chunks
1 romaine lettuce
1 beef tomato, sliced
1 small onion, sliced
Handful of peanuts, chopped
2 limes
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp ketchup
1 birds eye chilli
3 cloves garlic
25g peeled ginger
1 tbsp palm sugar
1 tsp ground black pepper
Stick the chilli, garlic, ginger, sugar, ketchup and sauces in a food processor with the juice of 1 lime and whizz it up.
Put the chunks of steak in a bowl and pour over the sauce and leave to marinade for half an hour.
Heat a wok until it’s smoking then add about a tablespoon of oil and stir fry the beef in two batches for about 4 or 5 minutes each time (until the beef is dark brown on the outside but still soft and a bit pink inside).
Leave the cooked meat in a warm plate to rest.
Make the dipping sauce with the juice of the second lime, a teaspoon of pepper and a pinch of salt.
Serve the meat with the sliced tomatoes, onions, chopped peanuts, lettuce leaves and dipping sauce.
To eat take a leaf and place a slice of tomato, onion, some chopped nuts and a chunk of beef inside then close it round and dip it in the lime juice before taking a great big bite.
Mince and Skirlie 