Rusty Nails - Stir-Fried Beef with Red Sauce and Vegetables.

Rusty Nails

Ingredients.

* 500g lean minute steak, salt, pepper, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp crushed garlic, sesame oil, dry sherry, MSG, 1 egg-white, 1 tsp sodium bi-carbonate, 1 cup seasoned cornflour, peanut oil

* 2 tbsp tomato ketchup, 1 tbsp Worcester sauce, 2 tbsp hoi sin sauce, 1 cup brown bean sauce, ¼ cup sugar, chilli oil

* 1 sliced onion, 1 cup julienned carrot, 1 cup julienned bamboo shoots

Slice the steak into strips and ransfer it to a plastic container with a lid. Add a pinch of salt, some pepper, the ginger and garlic, a good few splashes of sesame oil, a shot or so of sherry, a good pinch of MSG, the egg-white and the sodium bi-carbonate, dissolved in a little warm water. Mix the steak around with your hands, until the meat is all coated with the marinade mixture. Put the meat in the fridge and marinate it overnight.

Drain the meat from the marinade. Dredge the meat pieces in the cornflour and fry them in hot peanut oil, in two or three batches, for a minute or so. Drain the pieces and put them aside.

In a bowl, combine the ketchup, the Worcester sauce, the hoi sin sauce, the bean sauce, the sugar, a few splashes of sesame oil, the chilli oil, and some salt and pepper. Put it aside.

Gently fry the onion in a wok with the carrots and bamboo shoots for five minutes. Remove them to a bowl. Add another tablespoon of oil to the wok and heat it well. Add the fried meat and toss it around for a minute or two. Quickly pour in the sauce and toss it around for a couple of minutes. Return the vegetables and toss them all together.

Serves four.