Just the Right Amount of Spice

Today I made a beef and cashew stir fry with a little fresh chilli for lunch.

First I cubed a medium sized piece of steak then placed it in a plastic resealable bag along with with a glug of extra virgin olive oil, a dash of seasame oil, a big glug of soya sauce, a clove of fresh garlic finely diced, a bit of ground black pepper and half a large fresh chilli finely diced. I sealed up the bag and let the steak marinate in the bag while I preped the rest of the ingredients. You could marinate longer, but I was hungry so left it only about 20 minutes!

Next I chopped up a quarter of a large leek (the green end as that was what was left) and sliced up an old piece of red cabbage (about 2 cups). The mushrooms were already sliced (about 1 cup) and the final key ingredient is the cashew nuts. I used about 2 tablespoons.

When I was ready to start cooking, I heated the frypan with a glug of extra virgin olive oil and about a teaspoon of butter. I browned the steak lightly before adding the remaining ingredients (excluding the cashews) and stir fried the veges until almost tender.

Then I added a few little extra flavour bursts - another small glug of soya sauce, a splash of chilli sauce (mine is homemade but sweet Thai chilli sauce is also nice) a teaspoon of seasame seeds, a teaspoon of butter and lastly the cashew nuts - frying until the veges were tender.

I finished of with another teaspoon of seasame seeds to garnish and the result:

A warm, filling and spicy dish on a cold and winters day :-)