I feel like a bit of a fraud making meals like this. It isn’t really cooking so much as arranging ingredients in a wok and applying heat. In saying that though, this is the kind of meal that started me off on my cooking adventures, when I was young and impetuous and carefree.
Back in those days (circa 1997), men didn’t cook at all. Certainly not ones that went to university anyway. So I would throw together my stirfrys with all the flair and extravagance of a young Ernest Shackleton, boldly trudging into the unknown (but with a cocky assurance that I’d be rewarded with rapturous praise if I managed to assemble anything vaguely edible onto a plate). My gratuitous use of peanut oil, and my willingness to embrace the exotic world of coriander, baby corn and bean shoots made all my meals an instant success. The world was my oyster sauce… and I squeezed it for all it was worth.
So here again is my homage to simple cooking. To getting people excited about making their own meals, and to preparing food in less time than it takes to get in the car to drive to McDonalds.
- Sliced Beef (I used about 400g of rump steak, but anything is fine, topside was my original goto cut)
- 2 chillis, chopped finely (less or none if you don’t want this to be spicy)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1/2 red capsicum
- 1 onion, sliced
- 1/2 zucchini
- 1 pack of egg noodles
- Soy sauce
- Oyster sauce
- Red wine / Chinese Cooking Sherry
- Big handful of chopped coriander
- whatever else you can find in the fridge that looks tasty
How I Made Mine
Fry the chopped chilli in oil by itself. This gives it a real kick, and will infuse your oil with capsaicin (the stuff that makes chillis hot). Fry the garlic now too, and when its soft, throw in the beef to get it nicely coated. Fry the beef until its just cooked, adding some red wine or sherry while its going for a bit of extra flavour in the meat, then take out of the wok.
Now fry your onion, capsicum, zucchini, and whatever else you’ve decided to use. When they are getting a little soft (but still have some bite), throw the beef back in, add in the egg noodles, toss it all around, splash in enough soy sauce and oyster sauce to get the flavour your after coating the noodles and veges, then toss through your coriander (cilantro for americans), and you’re done.
Then place in front of your partner/friends/family/cat, and wait for the praise you so richly deserve :)
I know how you feel. When I make my own version of the above now it is on days when I cant be bothered to cook as too busy! I too started out like this, simple stir frys & pasta sauces, you have to start somewhere & then before you know it you are a cookbook/food magazine/cooking shows, etc addict & trying things never dreamed of a few years ago.
Hey Ange,
Yeh I’ve been trying to work out when exactly this whole gourmet food trip started for me as well… and why… but in the meantime I’ll just enjoy it :)
This dish too me literally 15 minutes to prepare and cook, which you can’t beat really.
Thats the main thing isn’t it – that it’s often just as fast, if not faster to cook than to make the trip for takeaway. Given that I love to cook, it just amazes me how often the takeaway option wins. When I do finally whip something up at home, I wonder for the 1000th time why I didn’t do it earlier. Funny thing, the human mind!
Looks great.
Are you using a wok on a normal stovetop for that?
Susan: resist ! You’ll regret it in the morning… Takeaway food is the bad one night stand of cuisine… it’ll never call you back.
Carneagles: Yep, cooking with gas on the stovetop in a not particularly authentic, flat based,(partially) teflon coated wok… Does the job nicely.