I had a hankering for the stuff we ate while in South East Asia. Hot, sour and savoury soups, banana pancakes were eaten in balmy countries. But what about on a cold winter’s night? I thought they would translate quite well so I made a brothy soup with noodles with some nice sirloin steak. I made this up on the fly using some of the flavours I enjoyed in South East Asia. This was followed by a dessert of asian-inspired banana pancakes with melted chocolate. Yum.

Bok choy is cheap and it is super easy to grow. I know this because I’ve grown it before. But at $0.50 for a bag of 2 or 3 bok choy at my local Chinese supermarket, I don’t bother to grow my own. So easy to prepare, just wash and slice into quarters lengthwise. Good rabbit food too. When we have bok choy, Tofu the rabbit also enjoys bok choy.

Beef Noodle Soup

Beef Ingredients
1 piece of sirloin steak enough for 2 (200-300g)
A little sesame oil
A splash of soy sauce
A teaspoon of brown sugar
A good squeeze of lime

Preparation

1. Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the sirloin whole for an hour or so.
2. Heat a little oil on a heavy frying pan. You want it hot hot to sear the outside of the beef.
3. Fry the steak for a few minutes on each side until the outside is dark brown, almost to the point of becoming black.
4. Take off heat and rest for 5-10 minutes before slicing thinly. It should be beautifully pink but not raw in the centre. The beef will cook further in the hot broth.

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon*
3 cups water*
A splash of soy sauce*
2 shanghai bok choy
2 bundles of dried rice noodles
A pinch of dried chili threads (or fresh chili if you have it)
1 lime
1 knob of ginger

*Edit: Or you could use one of these great little stock pot jelly things.

Preparation

1. Peel and cut ginger in half.
2. Boil ginger with dried chili for a few minutes. Add soy sauce, chicken bouillon and water.
3. Taste the broth. Simmer for longer if it could do with more chili or ginger. Remove ginger and chili when it tastes good.
4. Add the noodles. Simmer for a few minutes. (At this stage I slice the beef)
5. Wash and slice the bok choy into quarters lengthwise.
6. Add bok choy to the pot.
7. When bok choy is just done and the noodles are cooked, divide into 2 large soup bowls.
8. Lay the sliced beef on top and squeeze over more lime. Fresh ground pepper too if that’s your thing.

Banana pancake

This pancake was the bog standard Edmonds Cookery Book recipe, with banana slices and melted chocolate buttons inside (and out). What I don’t get is the Edmond recipe stated that it made 8 pancakes, but we only got 2.

2 large ones, but definitely no more than 4 small sized ones. Is the Edmonds Cookery Book portions for people that eat like rabbits?