Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry

I bought some broccoli for a dish at the weekend, I forget exactly what, but I had a load left over and to be honest nothing else inspiring in the fridge for dinner, so it was thrust to centre stage to be the star of tonight's meal. This is healthy and quick to prepare, so no excuses! It was also a convenient excuse to trot out some new funky coloured rice bowls, spoons and chopsticks I got last month from Habitat. Any excuse, I know, but who doesn't like pink chopsticks?!?

Serves 2
500g sirloin steak cut into thin strips
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp cornflour (starch)

1 large head broccoli cut into bite size chunks
2 tbsps groundnut oil
1 red pepper sliced
1 red chilli
2 garlic cloves crushed
1 thumb sized piece of ginger grated
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsps hoisin sauce
2 spring onions sliced
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds

Start by marinading the beef strips in the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and cornflour. Set aside in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Add the broccoli to boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, drain and cool under cold water and keep to one side.

Heat the oil in a wok or wide frying pan and flash fry the beef strips for 30 seconds on each side. Don't crowd the pan otherwise the beef will boil and not fry, so be prepared to cook in batches. Set the cooked beef to one side and keep the leftover marinade. Stir in an additional tablespoon of soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of hoisin sauce to the marinade.

Add some more oil to the pan and add the chilli, garlic and ginger. Stir fry for one minute then add the red pepper and broccoli and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Add the beef and any resting juices back into the wok. Stir through the rest of the marinade and warm through for a minute. Finally throw in the spring onions and sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve with steamed rice or egg noodles.