This Szechuan Beef recipe is a real crowd-pleaser.  We first had this at my sister in laws (she is an amazing cook), so we pinched the recipe off her and it is a great weekend fakeaway, which is much loved by my boys.   I am delighted to bring you this recipe in conjunction with Simply Beed and Lamb as part of their live slow campaign.

Live slow I hear you say.  How can this be slow cooked? Well, this isn’t cooked in a crock pot or slow cooker, but it certainly is a meal for slowing down and enjoying.  This is a meal to cook when you have time to enjoy making it.  To find out more watch what I think live slow means in my video below.

Szechuan Beef recipe

This is a great prepare ahead meal as it only takes 15 minutes to cook, but you need to marinade the beef for at least 30 minutes.  Whilst we are talking about beef make sure you look for the Red Tractor logo, which guarantees the meat you are buying is farm assured.  As the daughter in law of a farmer (I call him my farmer in law!) I know how important it is to support British suppliers.

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp rice vinegar or white wine vinegar
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 level tsp cornflour
• 1inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 500g of lean British beef steak, all visible fat removed, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 red chiles, seeds removed and thinly sliced
• 1 tsp Szechuan peppercorns, crushed
• 1/2 tsp Chinese five-spice powder
• 1 red pepper, seeds removed and cut into chunks
• 1 yellow pepper, seeds removed and cut into chunks
• 1 spring onions chopped, for garnish

How to make Szechuan Beef

Slice your beef into bite sized pieces.

Put the soy sauce, vinegar,  cornflour and grated ginger in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of water and mix together. Add the steak and stir to coat well. Cover and set aside to marinate in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.

Slice your chillies, garlic and add to your crushed peppercorns and spices.  Add one tablespoon of oil in a wok and place over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, chiles, Szechuan peppercorns and five-spice powder and cook for 1 minute. Add the marinated beef (reserving the marinade) and stir-fry for 2–3 minutes. Remove from the pan and keep warm.

Add the peppers to the wok and stir-fry for 5 minutes, then return the beef and reserved marinade to the wok. Stir-fry briskly over medium heat for 2 minutes.

Sprinkle with the spring onion and extra sliced red chiles and serve hot with plain cooked rice of your choice.

What is slow living?

The origins of the Slow Movement began in 1986 in Italy as a reaction to “fast food.” It became evident that food was just one aspect of life that benefitted from the “Slow” approach.

For the Mad family, slow living is about taking time out, turning off tech and enjoying time together.  We love to cook and eat together.  This is what most Saturdays are about for us, we try not to make lots of plans and to spend time together pottering.  We often have commitments on a Sunday, so we deliberately do not over schedule the previous day.

I love it when we can all help in the kitchen, chatting and enjoying preparing the meal as well as sitting around the dining table as a family without any pressing engagements and time constraints.

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