Garlic chilli pepper beef & mushroom pak choy

Ching’s Chinese Food in Minutes (HarperCollins, hardback €25) offers a great selection of appealing, healthy and easy Chinese dishes that use everyday ingredients – and can all be on the table in under 30 minutes, making this a really useful everyday reference for those nights when you’re tempted to resort to the takeaway.

Some good vegetarian dishes are included among the wide range – and red meat lovers would be delighted to see this Garlic chilli pepper beef & mushroom pak choy, which takes only 10 minutes.

Serves 2.

2 x 275g/10 oz sirloin beefsteaks, each cut into 5mm/1/4 inch slices
1 tablespoon groundnut oil
1 tablespoon Shaohsing rice wine or dry sherry
200g/7oz pak choy leaves, washed, stems and leaves separated and sliced
50g/2oz shiitake mushrooms, sliced
sea salt
steamed jasmine rice (175g/6oz rice to 300ml/½ pint water)
green salad or spicy wild rice salad (recipe given in book) to serve
for the marinade:
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium green chillis, deseeded and finely chopped
1 tablespoon chilli paste
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
ground black pepper.

1. Put all the ingredients for the marinade into a bowl and stir to combine. Trim the fat off the beef, add the meat to the marinade and toss for a few minutes.

2 Heat a wok over a high heat and add the groundnut oil. When the oil starts to smoke, add the beef (reserve the marinade) and cook for l minute, then add the rice wine or sherry. Add the pak choy stems and cook for 1 minute, then add the leaves and mushrooms and cook for another minute. Add the reserved marinade and cook for another minute. Season further to taste with salt and serve immediately with jasmine rice and green salad, or spicy wild rice salad.