Asian Style Strips of Beef in Spicy Soy Sauce with Steamed Rice

Yesterday evening coming back from work, I entered a butcher shop on a whim. I have always bought my meat from the supermarket - but not anymore. The meat was fresh and it looked great, so I bought a lump of lean beef, without having a specific recipe in mind. But when I came back home and opened the fridge, I discovered the last of ginger, button mushrooms and a pile of spring onions, and suddenly I had a craving for something totally Asian.

Honestly, I'm actually having a blank at the moment, thinking how to name this dish: Spicy Beef with Soy Sauce, Tender Beef Asian Style, Beef with Button Mushrooms and Spring Onions....'cos it's simple, but it's funky at the same time; I made it on the cheap & used local ingredients (no siitake mushrooms, water chestnuts and co), but the result was truly amazing....

Asian style strips of beef in spicy soy sauce with steamed rice

Type of cuisine: Asian

When I lived in Riyadh I used to cook Asian food all the time. It was so hot, the kitchen was relatively small compared to the one I have in Bucharest, and it was so easy to find good quality ethnic ingredients, plus we would regularly eat out in Indonesian, Chinese & Filipino restaurants. But when I came back home, I kind of lost my magic touch (or so I thought) and stopped cooking & eating Asian. I think this is my first Asian cusine post on this blog...  :( Hmmmm...

It's high time I broke the ice.

Ingredients

500 gr of tender beef cut into thin strips

2 white onions cut into rings

1 small carrot thinly sliced

4 spring onions

a small bulb of chopped ginger

4-5 crushed garlic cloves

a pinch of chilli

1 tsp of cinnamon

2 tsp of coriander

a pinch of cumin

dark & light soy sauce

+

a small cup of  warm water

Preparation & Method

Cut the beef in very thin strips. Wash and chop/slice/crush all the veggies (white onions, carrot, mushrooms, spring onions, ginger, garlic). 

Marinate the beef in light soy sauce, ginger and garlic, coriander, cinnamon and cumin. 

Fry the onion rings, then add the beef and stir constantly till it browns. 

Mix the dark soy sauce with warm water and a pinch of chilli powder and pour the mixture over the beef. 

Add the button mushrooms cut in halves and the carrot. Let them bubble for a couple of minutes. Finally, add the spring onions for a touch of colour and a great crunchy taste. 

(I personally don't like mushy veggies in my food, so I tend to add the vegetables towards the end.)

In the meantime, steam some rice and when that is done,the yummiest part comes next: a delicious light meal that is cooked in less than 30 minutes. What more can I ask for?

And while we were chatting away over dinner, I glanced over my phone and read on Twitter that Masterchef Romania had started for the past 30 minutes!! Had been looking forward to it for such a long time and now I had clean forgotten about it. 

It was funny watching it, certainly beats shows like The Voice or X Factor. At least, there will be things to learn from it & plenty of note-taking. One hopes :))