Today I depart from my Japanese affair and prepare something a little closer to my Vietnamese belly. This dish is one of my favourites, the lovely taste of lemongrass, so popular with my Vietnamese fellows, combined with kecap manis and fish sauce is a delight for the tastebuds (something tells me I am going to run out of adjectives really quickly in this blog).

The cows will never be safe while this recipe exists. Moo moo.

Preparation time: 5 minutes plus 10 minutes marinating time
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
• 4 stems lemongrass (white part only), finely chopped
• 2 1/2 tablespoons oil
• 600g lean rump steak, thinly sliced across the grain (don’t be lazy now!)
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1 - 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons kecap manis (sweet soya sauce)
• 1 large red onion, cut into small wedges
• 200g green beans, cut into 5cm lengths (Hint: blanch it before frying to increase visual appeal and reduce cooking time)

Method

1. Combine the garlic, ginger, lemongrass and 2 teaspoons oil in a non-metallic bowl. Add the beef then marinate for at least 10 minutes, the longer the better.
2. Combine the lime juice, kecap manis and fish sauce in a small bowl. I like having more juice so feel free to increase the amount to your discretion.
3. Heat wok until very hot and add 1 tablespoon oil, swirl to coat. Stir fry the beef in batches for 2-3 minutes or until browned, don’t cook it through though because nobody wants to eat tough overcooked beef. Remove from wok
4. Reheat wok to very hot, add remaining oil and add onion and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add beans and cook for a further two minutes. Return the beef to wok. Pour in the sauce mixture and cook until heated through. Serve piping hot with rice.

2 comments

This is a super fast dish. It takes much longer to wash the dishes than it does to prepare and cook this meal. Not the tastiest dish I’ve ever made, probably because it was the first time I made it, but it’s really quick to make and will fill up that hole in your stomach faster than you can say discombobulated.

Preparation time: 1 minute
Cooking time: 5 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 2 tbs oil
• 2 tbs red curry paste
• 4 spring onions (or chives), chopped thinly (rough for chives)
• 2 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
• 2 tbs fish sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup basil leaves
• 1/2 onion
• white rice to serve

Method

1. Heat oil in wok over medium heat then add curry paste. Stir fry for a minute or until fragrant.
2. Turn heat to high and add mince. Stir fry until brown, break up wit spoon.
3. Add onion, spring onions fish sauce, sugar and lime leaf. Stir fry for a minute.
4. Remove from heat and stir in the basil leaves.
5. Serve on rice.

3 comments