canola or peanut oil for cooking
12 ounces top sirloin, semi frozen, cut in half crosswise and cut against the grain into thin strips
3 shallots thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced and divided; set aside half for the stir fry sauce
Sauce
¼ cup tamarind puree (Thai product) OR 1 tablespoon tamarind concentrated paste (Indian product)
2 tablespoons palm sugar or light brown sugar, or more as needed
2 tablespoons fish sauce, or more as needed
2 tablespoons sweet thick soy sauce (kecap manis) or 1 tablespoon EACH oyster sauce, sugar and soy sauce
1/3 cup chicken broth
1 heaping tablespoon, sambal oelek or other Asian hot sauce, adjust amount to taste
2 teaspoons cornstarch
Whisk all ingredients and half of garlic in a bowl. Taste for balance of flavors; sweet sour, salty and spicy.
Green beans, cut crosswise in thirds, bias cut
½ red bell pepper, cut into ½ inch dice
½ cup bamboo shoots or Thai baby corn, if whole, cut into thirds
¼ cup thinly sliced Thai holy basil (available in Asian markets) or Italian basil
lime wedges for serving
Thai crispy shallots or fried garlic, for garnish
Whisk all ingredients and half of garlic in a bowl. Taste for balance of flavors; sweet sour, salty and spicy.
Heat a wok on high heat. Add a tablespoon of oil. Stir fry the beef, shallots and remaining garlic until the meat
is no longer red. Remove the beef from the wok. Add more oil to wok; saute haricots vert, red peppers and
bamboo shoots (or Thai cut baby corn) for 2 minutes. Return sauce and beef to wok until reheated and sauce
thickens. Add basil just before serving. Serve with lime wedges.
White Rice
1 ½ cups Jasmine or any long grain rice
3 cups water
In a medium saucepan, cover rice with 2 ½ cups of water and salt; bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over very
low heat for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat without lifting the lid and let stand, covered, for 5 minutes.
Fluff the rice with a fork. Rice may be set aside for up to a half hour.
Brown Rice
2 cups brown rice
Bring large pot of water to boil. Add rice, stir it once; boil, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Drain rice in a strainer then return
it to the pot, off heat. Cover the pot with lid for 10 minutes. Uncover fluff rice with fork, and serve.