charred beef and rice noodle stir-fry from delicious. magazine.

I think the thing with takeaway is that it just never tastes the same when you try and make it at home and you don't get the variety of a couple of dishes in the same sitting. Yes even home alone on a Friday night I order at least 2 mains (plus entrees)... variety is the spice of life!

In the new delicious. magazine this month they have a great charred beef and rice noodles stir-fry recipe that tastes pretty close to a dish at the local thai around the corner from us. I just need to find the right noodles and I think it would have been spot on. My supermarket didn't have big fat flat rice noodles... I chose the fattest ones they had but not the same thing but then I'm being picky and in reality a noodle 1cm thinner is probably not going to make that much of a difference.

I was pretty impressed with this dish as there wasn't many ingredients and normally when I make a stir-fry I start getting every asian condiment and sauce in my fridge and pantry out and add a little of everything and then it all ends up tasting the same. This time I went by the recipe (kinda) and trusted it. I couldn't find bean sprouts so I used some baby pak choi instead and my measurements were adjusted slightly with the soy sauce as I adjusted the recipe for 2 people instead of 4 ...but it still tasted pretty amazing!

The only wok I own is a mini wok that still overflows when making fried rice for one so instead of charring the beef then charring the noodles in a wok on high I used my regular frying pan. This meant that they weren't really charred so even if you don't own a wok don't let that discourage you. It still tastes great even without the charring! It's easy, simple flavours and I was very impressed.

Before you serve it give it a little taste. I added a tiny splash extra fish sauce and dark soy to mine and big dollop of sambal oelek (chilli paste) but the brand of sauce you have used might be saltier than mine so always taste first. I have over salted on more than one occasion being heavy handed with the soy or oyster sauce and made it so salty that it was completely inedible. Now I'm a better safe than sorry girl :) I hate being disappointed with a dinner and wasting stomach space.

I think this is a great mid week dinner, I don't think it took more than 20 min to prep everything and cook it.

Charred beef & rice noodles stir-fry

Serves 2

(recipe adapted from delicious. magazine February 2015 issue - find original recipe here.)

300g minute beef steaks, sliced into strips

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

200g flat rice noodles (softened in boiling water if using dried)

2 teaspoons sunflower oil

2 teaspoons sesame oil

5 spring onions, white & pale green parts chopped, dark green parts thinly sliced on an angle for garnish at the end

2 teaspoons of fish sauce

1 bunch broccolini, sliced in half and lengthways

1 bulb of baby pak choi, washed and leaves separated

sambal oelek (chilli paste), to serve

- Place a frying pan (or wok) on high heat and fry the beef and half of the dark soy sauce until the beef is brown all over and cooked through (or charred if using a wok) about 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

- Place the same frying pan back on high heat and add your noodles and remaining soy sauce and cook for about 1 minute until noodles are charred (mine didn't char in the frying pan so if your using a wok this step might work).

- Next add both oils, chopped spring onions, fish sauce and vegetables and stir fry for a further 3 minutes until vegetables are tender.

- Return the beef to the pan with any resting juices and toss until heated through.

- Taste to see if you need a little extra dash of anything and serve with the dark green parts of the spring onions and some sambal oelek for a little bit of spice (optional).