Marinated Beef with Garlic and Chilli Bok Choy

(And the worlds most awesome Ice Cream Sundae.)

And so we start the second week of Advent. How on earth did we get this far into the year?!

With Christmas approaching (and my parents returning from their 4 months overseas... and therefore claiming back the kitchen... I really MUST start house hunting...) I've been having fun doing a bit more cooking. As busy as the last few weeks of school are - it's really just busy AT school (and of course the after school events) but theres not much take home work. Which is brilliant. And helpful when one wants to spend the weekend lounging in/beside the pool and in the kitchen baking.

So this weekend I baked an awesome Spiced Apple Cake with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Icing... and took no photos. But I promise you it was awesome. And I am taking most of it into school tomorrow for staff morning tea.
I also made Buckeyes. (Peanut Butter balls covered in chocolate. They are like Reeses Pieces. But cheaper. And in bulk.) I will blog about those... with photos.

Tonight, I made Marinated Beef with Garlic and Chilli Bok Choy.... which so does not accurately describe how awesome it is.
It's there slices of tender as hell sirloin steak basted in this mouthwatering paste made with ground toasted sesame seeds, garlic, ginger, soy sauce and palm sugar. Maybe theres something in there that tenderises the steak more.. because it was melt in the mouth tender.

The bok choy is done with chilli and garlic - as the name suggests.... and is awesome. I added udon noddles to my dish, simply because I felt that it'd need something to nutralise the flavor a little bit. (I bought some easy and quick organic dried udon noodles at my local vege shop and few weeks ago and this was the perfect time to try them out.)
I'll copy the recipe at the bottom of this post.

I also (over the weekend) made the worlds BEST ice cream sundaes.
Tip Tops new Caramel ice cream, Hersheys hot fudge sauce and home made strawberry sauce. (Strawberries, Sugar, a dash of water and a little bit of vanilla. AWESOME.)

Not an awesome photo. Or one that displays how good those things taste together.


Marinated beef with garlic and chilli bok choy
Serves 4.
For the marinade:
2 Tbsp sesame seeds - toasted and ground
2 cloves of garlic, smashed, sliced
3cm knob fresh ginger, grated
1 tsp palm sugar, grated
4 Tbsp light soy sauce
4 Tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
The beef:
600g beef sirloin steak, thin sliced
3 spring onions, sliced on angle
2 Tbsp peanut oil
Bok choy
1 Tbsp peanut oil
3 bok choy, sliced into quarters
1 red chilli, sliced on angle
2 cloves of garlic
3 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp water
Use a mortar and pestle to grind the sesame seeds into a fine powder. Add the remaining marinade ingredients and work into a paste.
Place beef into a shallow glass dish and sprinkle over spring onions, reserving some for garnish.
Add the marinade and massage it into the meat. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Heat your wok over high heat. When hot add the oil then beef with marinade and quickly stir fry. It should only take about 3 minutes. Remove and set aside to rest.
Rinse wok and return to the heat.
Add the oil and when shimmering add the garlic. Stir fry for about 30 seconds then add the chilli and bok choy and stir to combine. Add the water then soy and continue to stir fry until the bok choy has softened but keeps its colour. Remove from heat.
To serve, arrange the bok choy in a circle in the centre of a plate.
Spoon the beef into the centre and sprinkle with the remaining spring onions. Pour over some of the remaining juice from the bok choy and serve.

(Can also serve with udon noodles)