Swindian orange beef with mixed mushrooms

The reason I called this Swindian beef is because I took a Chinese recipe, removed some ingredients, added another few, and thus felt it could no longer be called Szechuan. It is absolutely scrumptious and very, very quick to make. I went out for dinner last night and ate an entire pizza, so I decided to skip the rice tonight, which would otherwise be the perfect accompaniment. Alternatively, you could even wrap it in lettuce leaves.

The taste of this beef is rather mild, but it is very pleasant to the palate and a little different from what I usually make, as it had a little sweetness to it too. The main reason for this is the orange juice. I would highly recommend squeezing fresh oranges, as the taste just doesn’t compare to the boxed stuff. And the great thing about this is that you can just drink the rest of the juice with your meal!

Serves 2

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Marinade:

• 1/2 tbsp cornflour
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• Sprinkle of black pepper

Stir-fry:

• 300g beef, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp chili oil
• 150g mixed mushrooms (I had chestnut and oyster)
• 2 spring onions, finely chopped (green and white bits)
• 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine

Marinate the beef for 10-15 minutes. The marinade will be quite runny, but don’t worry about that. When you fry the beef, just put the pieces into the pan and leave the rest of the marinade in the bowl (it will be added later).

Heat the chili oil and fry the beef on high heat for 2 minutes. Then add the mushrooms and the rest of the marinade and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the spring onions along with the orange juice, soy sauce and rice wine and cook for a few more minutes until the meat is fully cooked.

Serve with rice or lettuce leaves and a glass of fresh orange juice. You could also garnish with fresh orange slices if you like (I had already squeezed mine dry)!