Remember when Stir Fry’s became fashionable?  Like back in the late 80’s early 90’s?  Prior to that they were definitely a dish that for most people was consumed at the local Chinese/Thai restaurant.  For some reason, I recall loading them with 100’s of ingredients and what should have been a simple task, was actually quite a chore.  We used to throw everything in the wok at one time, the meat would be undercooked and the veggie’s overcooked and it would come out looking a bit like prison slop.  Perhaps that was only me and my lack of understanding on how to actually cook a stir fry but over the years, I truly feel I have mastered the method and the ingredients.  Cooking a stir fry is a production line of sorts, albeit an enjoyable one and the end result, particularly of this dish, made me realise just how far I have come.  It was bang on.

Prep time:  25  Minutes      Marinating time:  Minimum 15 Minutes        Cooking time:  15  Minutes        $$ Medium Budget

Serves 4

Oil for frying  (peanut, rice bran, sunflower)

500gm of beef fillet cut into strips  (you may use a cheaper cut like rump if you like)

2 stalks of lemongrass, white part only

3cm piece of ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

3 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

4 tbs of fish sauce

Juice of 1 lime

11/2 tbs of brown sugar

400gm pack of flat rice stick noodles

150gm of snow peas, tops removed and thinly sliced

3 spring onions, white part sliced into 2cm batons, green part thinly sliced diagonally

1 large carrot, peeled and finely julienned

2 long red chillies (seeds removed optional), thinly sliced

1/2 cup of mint leaves

1/2 cup of Thai basil leaves

1 cup of coriander leaves

2 kaffir lime leaves, finely shredded

1/2 cup of toasted peanuts, roughly chopped

Place the lemongrass, ginger and garlic in a small food processor and blitz until you have a fine paste.  Combine the paste with the fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and mix well until the sugar has dissolved.  Place half the marinade in a bowl with the beef strips and stir to combine.  Set the remaining marinade aside and allow the beef to marinate for at least 15 minutes.

In a small bowl combine the coriander, green spring onion, Thai basil, mint and kaffir lime leaves.  Pour over cold water and add a couple of ice cubes.  Set aside and drain just before serving.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and cook the rice noodles for approximately 6-8 minutes or until just tender.  Drain and run under cold water before adding to the wok at a later stage.

While the noodles are cooking, heat a large wok to nice and hot and add a little oil.  Stir fry the beef, in small batches until caramelised (2-3 minutes), stirring continuously and moving around the wok all the time.  Repeat with the remaining beef and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the wok and stir fry the white part of the spring onion for approximately 1 minute before adding the snow peas and carrot.  Return the beef to the wok and add the noodles, remaining marinade and half of the chilli and then use a couple of large spoons or spatula’s to toss everything together.

To serve, divide the beef and noodles between 4 serving bowls and top with a generous handful of the herb mixture.  Scatter over the remaining chilli slices and toasted peanuts and serve.

Leftover Lime Leaves?  You might want to cook this………