Beef and Broccoli Stir-fry

A perfectly simple, tasty and healthy family meal.  I was shooting for plain Beef and Broccoli but I can't help myself, I have to add at least three other vegetables to make myself a 'real' meal and reduce the amount of rice I need.  The girls had the beef, broccoli and carrot version before I loaded it up but for me, adding baby bok choy, celery, cashew nuts and sugar snap peas make it a dieters dream!  I grew up on stir-fry's and this is a good simple take on any I have ever had.  I could easily add a totally different selection of veg or even change the marinade flavors if I used chicken but these work nicely and are most definitely kid friendly. 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

2 x 250g Beef fillets

2 cups broccoli, chopped into small florets

2 carrots, finely sliced

2-3 baby bok choy

2 sticks of celery

1/2 cup sugar snap peas or snowpeas

1/4 cup roasted cashews (optional)

1 tspn garlic

1/2 tspn minced ginger

1/2 onion, finely sliced

1-2 tbslpn vegetable or sesame oil

marinade:

2 tblspn rice vinegar

1 tblspn soy sauce

1 tblspn ketjap manis or 1 tspn brown sugar

sauce:

1/4 - 1/3 cup water

1 1/2 tspn cornflour

2 tblspn oyster sauce

1 tspn soy sauce

Serve with steamed rice, if desired.

Method:

• Slice the beef in thin strips, and place in a bowl with the marinade ingredients for 10-30mins.
• Cook the rice in a microwave or electric rice cooker
• In a wok or large fry pan, heat the oil and sauté the onions until clear
• Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 1 min until fragrant
• Add the beef and cook for 2-3 minutes until almost cooked.
• In a cup, make up the sauce by adding water to the cornflour and mix until smooth.  Then add the flavors of oyster sauce and soy.
• Add the broccoli and carrots and then pour over the sauce and continue to cook until the vegetables are slightly softened 
• Add the other vegetables, bok choy, celery etc and cook for a minute or two ensuring that the vegetables you want crunchy are not over cooked and the sauce has thickened.
• Mix through roasted cashew nuts and serve on steamed rice.