Stir-fried Beef with Black Beans, Chinese Greens and Bamboo Shoots

I went on an extremely successful shopping expedition yesterday. I was on a mission to find several ingredients including paneer cheese, aloo bokhara, the elusive Kashmiri chilli and hickory wood chips. I did a bit of internet research and found an Indian supermarket on the Gold Coast which was my first stop. The lady there was delightful and very helpful. I managed to find not only dried and powdered Kashmiri chillies but also the paneer cheese, aloo bokhara and some lovely fresh curry leaves (which she gave to me for free). These leaves from the curry tree are widely used in Indian influenced cuisine as Bay leaves are in European cuisine.

Paneer cheese is simply an Indian cottage cheese and would be something you could easily make yourself if you had the time and inclination. You can buy it frozen and the cheese is already cubed ready to add to curries.  Aloo bokhara are small dried prunes which are both sweet and sour.

Whilst there I bought some saffron strands which she explained to me come in various grades. I bought the number one grade which was $6 for 0.5g and wondered if I had been had but after again doing some research think I have done ok! If you are interested have a look at this site http://www.saffron.com

These ingredients are for some recipes from Bangladesh (Lamb Biryani and Potato Curry) where the cuisine is influenced by both Persian and Northern Indian cuisine. If you need any Indian ingredients try visiting the Spice Trail http://www.spicetrail.com.au/

The Hickory wood chips I found in a barbecue shop and will be using them to make a Balinese smoked duck dish. I love coming home and spreading all my finds across the bench and actually went to bed wishing I could make all the dishes at once as I am excited about experiencing all the new flavours.

So to dinner last night; Stir-fried Beef with Black Beans, Chinese Greens and Bamboo Shoots. This dish had the look of a Chinese Beef and Black Bean but was actually a Malaysian dish. The addition of lemon grass and shrimp paste in particular made it Malaysian in flavour. Being a stir-fry I decided it would be easier to have all the ingredients ready to toss in as directed. Once again I was surprised at the number of ingredients in this dish; rump steak, salted black beans, palm sugar, sesame oil, shrimp paste, cornflour, chicken stock, vegetable oil, ginger, garlic, red chillies, lemongrass, Chinese rice wine, bok choi, bamboo shoots and kecap manis.

Once all the ingredients were prepared it was a very quick dish to throw together, as stir-fries are. The result was a colourful, healthy, tasty dish which was both sweet and salty.

Rating 7 out of 10.