2010 Cooking Club Week 36: Mince Beef Noodles

Mince Beef Noodles

Ingredients
• Half pound beef mince
• 2 teaspoons of szechuan peppercorns (I can never find them so I use normal black peppercorns)
• 1 cube chicken stock
• 1 or 2 red chillies (depending on how much you like chillies)
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 lime
• 1 bunch spring onion (optional)
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1 or 2 little gem lettuce (or bok choi if you prefer)
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 75ml vegetable oil

Equipment
• large saucepan with lid
• wok
• pestle and mortar if you have one


1) Boil kettle and fill saucepan with the boiling water. Crumble in the stock cube, bring to the boil and then let it simmer at medium heat.

2) Heat wok to medium heat and toast the chillies for a few minutes.


3) Add the veg oil and then pour all the chillies and most of the oil into a bowl and put to one side.

4) Turn wok up and add the beef. Stir fry the beef for 10 mins until it is crispy. Keep an eye on it so it doesn’t all get stuck to the bottom.



5) While the beef is cooking, slice the garlic up thinly. Chop the spring onions. Grind up the peppercorns. Cut the lime into quarters.


6) Put the noodles into the boiling water and watch them so they don’t stick together. Put the lid back on. Cook them for 3 / 4 mins depending on your type.

7) When the beef is done, spoon out any fat. Add the honey and stir fry until the beef is nice and sticky.

8) Put wok into the oven to keep warm.

9) Cut the little gem/bok choi into quarters lengthways and put them in with the noodles for the last minute or so of cooking.

10) When noodles are done, scoop out a cup of the water to keep, drain the rest and turn off the heat. Add the drained noodles and little gem back into the pot, along with the cup of water.

11) Add the raw garlic, soy sauce, ground peppercorns and the chill oil into the pot. Stir it all around and put the lid back on to keep warm.


12) Take out warmed bowls and divide noodles between them. Spoon beef over top of noodles. I like to give an extra drizzle of soy sauce here. Squeeze a bit of lime over and you’re good to go!


I have photos and hopefully I can add them tomorrow.

This is a really quick, tasty and morish dish that is from a Jamie Oliver recipe.