Food & Wine
Stir-fried curry of beef with wild ginger, snake beans and holy basil
Transport your tastebuds to Asia with this delicious and flavoursome stir-fried curry of beef with wild ginger, snake beans and holy basil.
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 500 g beef fillet or similar, cut into stir fry strips
- 3 tablespoons Prik King Curry paste
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 tablespoons dark palm sugar
- 2 tablespoons water
- 6 kaffir lime leaves, roughly torn
- 1–2 tablespoons wild ginger (krachai), shredded
- 200 g snake beans, cut into 2½ cm lengths
- 1 cup holy basil (or Thai or sweet basil)
- 2 large red chillies, deseeded and julienned
- Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
Method:
- Heat the oil until smoking then add up to half the beef fillet. Stir fry over high heat just until the meat starts to colour. Remove the beef to a plate and repeat for the rest of the beef making sure that the beef does not stew in its juices. Once all the beef is cooked, put back in the pan with the red curry paste.
- Add the fish sauce, palm sugar, water, lime leaves and wild ginger.
- Stir fry until the sugar and fish sauce combine.
- Add the snake beans, basil and red chilli. Stir fry briefly, about 30 seconds, until the basil wilts. Transfer to a serving plate and serve with steamed jasmine rice.
Tips:
- When stir frying quality beef over 300 g, it is best to stir fry in 2 batches, rather than risk ‘stewing’ the meat in the juices that can come out of the beef if the pan is too crowded.
- In this recipe, substitute the snake beans with green beans if you wish.
- Krachai, or wild ginger, is also called ‘lesser galangal’ andsometimes called ‘kachai’. This member of the ginger familygives a subtle spicy flavour and works well with seafood. Ithas a light brown skin and yellow interior. It can be difficultto buy fresh, but you can buy it pickled in brine. The bestbrand is called ‘Cock’ imported from Thailand.
Recipe courtesy of Spirit House The Cookbook by Helen Brierty & Annette Fear, published by New Holland Publishers, RRP $49.99, available from all good bookstores or online.
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