Chicken or beef?

Yes I was the hostess with the mostess when I offered not one but TWO choices at dinner time. Highly unusual, and even more unusual, this recipe was eaten by our entire family. Everyone liked it, everyone ate it. It’s quite an exciting find.

There are a couple of parts to it, both with Korean flavours. A stir-fried chicken and noodle salad (pictured above), and a stir fried beef (no photo – we ate too fast!). It’s nice to make both chicken and beef, so your peeps can choose, or more radically – even eat both!

Recipes

I’ve adapted these recipes from Neil Perry. They were published in the SMH Good Weekend magazine in June 2011. Serves 4 – coupla adults and coupla kids (very hungry people may need more sides). Prep time, about half an hour. Cook time, 15 – 20 minutes.

Stir-fried chicken with (chilli*) sauce

Ingredients

2 tbsp vegetable oil
200g chicken breast fillets, sliced (or thigh fillets)
1 small brown onion, sliced
1 carrot, peeled & julienned
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
Packet rice noodles, cooked in boiling water for a few minutes, or follow packet instructions. Drain well.
Coriander, finely chopped

* I actually removed all chilli from the sauce to make it kid friendly.

Chilli sauce

3 tbsp gochujang (Korean hot bean paste – if you can’t get this, use Chinese chilli bean paste instead. Neil advises it will taste different however).
2 tbsp red chilli powder (optional)
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp finely chopped green (spring) onion
1 tsp sugar
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp sesame oil

What to do

Saucy: Place all the ingredients into a bowl and mix them up well. This can now sit to one side whilst you make the chicken.

Chook: Get the vegetable oil heated up in a fry pan – nice and hot until she’s smokin’. Add the sliced chicken fillets and brown them all over, and continue stir-frying until they’re almost cooked. Add the onion and carrot, and cook for another minute or so. Add the sauce to the chicken mixture and bring to the boil.

She’s ready: Arrange the rice noodles in a nice bowl or on a platter. Spoon the chicken on top, then sprinkle with the chopped spring onion, coriander and sesame seeds.

Warm Korean-style beef salad

Neil uses soba noodles with this dish, which I’ve omitted. You could easily use the rice noodles with this dish if you prefer.

Ingredients

120g beef fillet, cut into thin strips
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp vegetable oil
4 dried Chinese mushrooms, soaked for about 30 minutes in several changes of water, squeezed out and sliced (note: I left these out as my kids can somehow detect them and the eating barrier comes down)
1 small white onion, peeled and sliced
Sea salt
1 carrot, peeled and cut into 4cm long julienne strips
1/2 bunch spinach, washed, blanched in boiling water for 1 min then refreshed
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
1 tsp pine nuts, toasted and crushed

What to do

Beefy prep: Marinate the beef in half the soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil for 20 – 30 mins.

Beefy cook: Heat up the vegie oil until it’s super hot. Then stir-fry the beef and mushie slices for about 4 minutes or until both are well cooked. Put them aside in a bowl.

Vegie cook: Add the onion and a pinch of salt to the wok/frypan, and stir-fry for a minute or so – or until soft. Then add the carrot, cook for a bit, then add the spinach, rest of the sugar and sesame oil. Return the beef and mushie mix back to the wok and combine it all.

She’s ready: Put the beef in a bowl, sprinkle with sesame seeds and pine nuts and serve away.

Sorry no photo – this got eaten in a micro flash.