My mother always told me - never buy anything crumbed from a butchers - or pre marinated - because ‘They use the old meat’ and you can just cut or crumb your own fresh meat! It actually makes sense - back in the day more so I suppose, but some things your mother told you - stay with you forever!
I have a butcher that I trust, so I grabbed some precut beef strips this past weekend, and wanted to try a crispy beef - using the Green Banana Flour I picked up recently from the organic shop. See below for how this dish all came together - was actually pretty good and Mum would be happy to know that the meat was fresh and delish as well!
Ingredients:
Beef Mix
500g Beef strips
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1tsp mustard powder
2tbsp Green Banana Flour
1tsp salt and pepper
Enough oil to shallow fry in a wok or frypan
Sesame Honey Sauce
2 Tbsp Light Soy sauce
2 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp Sesame Oil
Mix together and adjust if you prefer sweeter or salty - add more soy for salt and honey for sweet! Set aside.
Optional - serve with these:
•Fried bean sprouts to garnish the dish - but enoki mushrooms would go really well here too! Add a nice crunchy element to the dish - plus it’s delicious so feel free to add one or both as well!
•Some of my Chilli peanuts - which is basically just roasted peanuts, crushed up with sweet chilli flakes, some chilli powder and salt - YUM!
• Steamed Rice and Broccoli
Ok back to the cook...
1.Mix all of the dry ingredients together - then add to the beef - and mix around so that all strips are coated - add more flour if you need to, then set aside (If you can’t find Banana Flour - use a cornflour and rice-flour combo instead)
2. Pre heat your oil in the wok - it needs to be really hot to quick cook this beef
3. Prepare a tray with paper towel on the side so you can drain excess oil off - once the beef is fried
4. Cook Rice as per packet instructions, blanch Veggies if using
5. When oil is ready - add a few beef strips at a time to the oil - don’t overcrowd the pan - work in batches to give each batch the best chance to be crispy! Stir around in the oil to coat and fry and they will change colour and go dark and crunchy in just a few minutes - make sure all sides are done, then remove from pan and do the next batch.
6. When all of the beef is done, remove any excess oil from the pan, and add the beef back into the pan over a high heat. Stir through the sauce mix quickly then remove from heat and serve Immediately.
Sprinkle some sweet chilli flakes, roasted sesame seeds and chilli nuts over the top and eat straight away! The last step has to be quick as you just want to stir the sauce through - but still keep it crunchy!! A squeeze of lime juice is nice as well!
TIP:
If you want the sauce to be thicker - make a cornflour slurry with water and some cornflour, then add to the sauce, and cook it together until combined and thickened, then toss the crispy beef though before serving!!
Happy Cooking
Jo x