Make some delicious spicy carrot beef right in your kitchen. That’s right, you can enjoy a fabulous stir fry Asian dish without going to a restaurant. A combination of tender beef, sweet crisp vegetables, rich sauce and spicy ginger makes a perfect bowl of comfort food, which can be made in less than 30 minutes.
As you can already see from the name of the dish, I used carrots and beef. Carrots are just amazing! They are sweet, crunchy, healthy and they come in lovely vibrant colours. You can check out my carrot tarte and see there is more than just an orange carrot. Wink. When it comes to the skin, it is perfectly ok to leave it on. All you need to do is scrub the dirt off well.
Furthermore, we all know beef tastes good when tender and moist, right? Right. Therefore, it needs to be sliced very thinly. Try to slice it into 3 mm thick strips, but not thicker than 5 mm. Consequently, the beef will cook and get tender way faster.
We all have made goulash before and we all know that beef cubes need a long time to get tender. Cut your beef thin! Well, you can already buy it like that or simply ask at the butcher to do it.
How to use ginger
And what makes the dish spicy? As you can assume, I used some chili flakes. They give a lovely warming touch to the dish. However, the real star is the ginger. Ginger brings that gentle spicy and beautiful flavour to the dish. I love ginger. In fact, I use it in soups, smoothies, with meat, rice and when I make a tea. It’s very versatile.
Moreover, ginger adds a great note to the sauce as well. Combined with garlic, onion, honey, vinegar and soy sauce makes this sauce the real deal. In addition, what really helps to make the sauce amazing and rich in flavour is browning the meat first. Remember it next time you make a sauce.
Ingredients for 2 portions of spicy carrot beef:
- 350 g beef (thinly sliced)
- 2 tsp of coconut or avocado oil
- 2 garlic cloves (sliced/chopped)
- a piece of ginger (ca 3 cm, sliced/chopped)
- 1 red onion (sliced/chopped)
- 3 carrots (sliced)
- 120 ml of soy sauce
- 4 tsp of honey
- 30 ml apple vinegar
- 2 tsp chili flakes (or as desired)
- cilantro (optional)
Prepare a larger frying pan. Slice or chop the garlic, ginger and onion. These three ingredients give an amazing flavour to the whole dish. Then, wash and scrub the carrots and slice them. I like to slice them at a 45º angle, in order to get longer, oval-shaped slices.
In a bowl combine soy sauce, honey, apple vinegar and chili flakes. Stir well.
Always brown your beef
Next, it’s beef time. You know how sometimes the meat is dusted with flour to thicken the sauce. Well, I skipped that. However, you can still do it. It’s up to you. Moving on. Melt the coconut oil in the pan. Once hot, add the beef slices and brown them on both sides for about 4 minutes or until nicely brownish. Then, transfer it to a small bowl.
Furthermore, using the same pan, add the garlic and ginger and stir fry for a couple of minutes. Then add the onion and carrot slices and cook for a minute. At this point pour in the soy sauce-honey mixture, stir and let it simmer until the carrots get a little tender or al dente. It’s just like with pasta. Wink.
When the carrots are perfectly done, put the beef strips back in the pan and cook for a couple of more minutes until the meat gets warm again.
Serve the spicy carrot beef just like that or with either some rice, bulgur or cauliflower rice if you prefer. I also added some fresh cilantro, which I love. I think it brings even more of the Asian touch to the dish. For lunch or mid-week supper, this easy and delicious dish is always a great idea.
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
