Chinese Fakeaway Night
When trying to lead a healthier lifestyle it's so hard to give up those much loved takeaway nights, many see it as a break from the kitchen and other's the only time their kids will come down for dinner. As great as they are; you have to admit we are left feeling bloated, greasy and wondering why an earth we thought ordering a enough to feed the rest of the street was a good idea?!
I was always guilty of this, especially with chinese takeaway food. I dont know why but when your on the phone shouting numbers off of a menu it doesnt register that this will actually turn out to be A LOT of food and not to mention the ££££££££££!
So to kick the calories in the but (which is exactly where my calories liked to call home), I needed to find another way but without loosing my beloved traditional 'takeaway night'.
Crispy Chili Beef has to be a favourite amongst many when ordering takeaway, even though we don't like to admit it the beef can either be too tough like leather or dripping in oil because it's been over fried to an inch of it's life and you have no idea what part of that cow you've just devoured!
I've put off making chinese food at home for so long, it's not something ive ever been confidient with and I presumed I wouldnt have half the ingredients so by the time i'd gone out and brought everything I might aswell get on the phone to the local chinky down the road. How wrong was I?!
I literally had to put my beef where my mouth was, because when I finally decided to give it a go I was amazed at how easy it was and how I pretty much had everything in the cupboard.
I brought frying steak for this recipe, I cut off any excess fat giving me piece of mind not only of the quality of meat but i'm not getting all the crappy pieces. A thin layer of corn flour and the use of little oil, enough to make the beef nice and crispy makes it so much more enjoyable not leaving that greasy aftermath.
One word of advice, a lot of chinese recipes use rice vinegar - this is actually quite expensive at most supermarkets for a tiny little bottle so I use white wine vinegar which works just as well! It's just something to give that slight sour tangy taste that most chinese dishes have.
You can of course make this as hot as you like, I buy hot chilli sauce so when making the sauce I dont really feel the need to be adding fresh chillies however this is of course up to you.
I LOVE egg fried rice and the two go together so well, it finishes off that takeaway edge. If you prefer noodles that of course would taste just as good.
Full recipe details available on recipe wall, enjoy your fakeaway guilt free!
