52 Cookbooks #18: Ho Fan beef noodles

My word of the week was healthy, and that's influenced the cookbook I've used this week.  So this week's recipe is from the Cook Yourself Thin book which accompanied the TV series of the same name.

It promises this is the delicious way to drop a dress size - I'm sure lower-calories meals will help but I'm not convinced just switching to this cookbook will do it (unfortunately)

There's more vegetables than normal in this recipe - spring onions, mushrooms, tenderstem broccoli, two peppers as well as garlic and ginger, and less noodles and steak than a less conscientious recipe would have. 

So the theory behind this recipe (and no doubt others in the book) isn't rocket science and follows the principle of eating more healthy/lower calorie foods. 

That didn't mean comprising on taste either.  Win win. 

The sauce was a simple mix of oyster sauce, soy sauce and a splash of water. The recipe calls for rice noodles which I know aren't MOH's favourite but I thought I'd give them a go. 

As with all stir fries, the trick is to have everything prepared before starting and then it becomes easy. The beauty of the rice noodles is that you just pour boiling water over them, cover with cling film and leave for five minutes before draining and rinsing under cold water.

All this means it's ready very quickly!

The verdict:

  • Tasty and enough vegetable texture and tastes that the lower meat content wasn't a problem

  • MOH thought the noodles were a "bit slimy" - yeap he spotted those rice noodles!

  • The dish is topped with (raw) sliced chilli, ours was quite hot but we got used to it!