This was basically a stir fry. Prep was minimal, and the ingredient list was short, many of which were pantry ingredients.
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| Prepped ingredients |
Step 1 - A sliced jalapeno and some garlic go into a pan over high heat (high heat throughout). The recipe called for a few Thai or serrano chilis, but this might make it too spicy for Julia, and definitely too spicy for Grace.
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| Step 1 - oil, chili and garlic |
Step 2 - After a minute or so, sliced flank steak goes into the pan, followed a couple minutes later by a sliced bell pepper and 3 sliced shallots.
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| Step 2 - beef, peppers and shallots |
Step 3 - After another minute or so, a sauce goes in. The sauce is a combination of dark soy, sweet soy, fish sauce (fermented fishy goodness!) and chili garlic paste.
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| Step 3 - soy, fish sauce and chili garlic paste |
Step 4 - After 3 minutes of simmering the beef and veggies in the sauce, you take the dish off the heat and add a handful of mint leaves and a handful of chopped basil. Give it a couple of minutes to wilt, and you are done.
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| Step 4 - mint leaves and chopped basil |
The end result, served with white rice. And a glass of Chardonnay...
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| Spicy Mint Beef |
This meal gets very high marks for flavor, limited list of ingredients, minimal prep, minimal clean up, and good authentic ethnic taste. The downside is...I can't think of one. This was easy, cheap and delicious. I'm not sure what more I could ask for...
