Happy New Year! (2015)

Here we are on the other side of the New Year. Welcome to 2015. May it be a good year for us all.

It has been a long standing tradition in our house, that we eat Chinese Food for New Year's Eve. I remember spending one New Year's Eve in New York with my sister, her husband and their friends and we had Chinese take out. (very good take out, I might add).

This year, I got home so early, that we decided to splurge and actually eat in the restaurant.

I have mentioned Grand Panda before, HERE.

We decided to leave our house early and what a good decision that was. We were immediately seated and served, but an hour or so later, when we left, the place was packed!

My Vietnamese "son" who is currently spending a month in Vietnam with his family, recently turned us onto a dish called Hunan Beef.

The first time I had it, for some reason, I was not impressed. Well, let me tell you, it grows on you and is totally great! This is the 4th time we have ordered it and we never regret it. Might I add that there are usually just a few pieces of meat left after we finish it, so left-overs are rare.

I got THIS recipe from the Food Network. The photo is from Grand Panda, so I am not sure how this recipe looks, when it is done (how dare they not show the finished product). :-)

Hunan Beef

Ingredients:

1 pound flank steak, sliced very thinly against the grain, on the bias
1 tablespoon garlic, minced
1 tablespoon ginger, minced
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon coarse ground black pepper
1/3 cup Shaoxing wine
6 to 8 de-stemmed and crushed dry Thai bird chiles
1 tablespoon corn starch
1 red onion, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 green bell pepper, sliced
Salt
Peanut oil, to cook

Directions:

In a bowl, mix together steak, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, black pepper, wine, chiles, and cornstarch. Let marinate at least 2 hours, but preferably refrigerated overnight.

Strain the beef and reserve marinade. In a very hot wok filled 1/4 with peanut oil, 'blanch' the beef for 5 seconds only. Set beef aside and pour off all but 2 tablespoons of oil.

Stir-fry the onions and bell peppers for 3 minutes then add back the beef and the reserved marinade. Bring to a boil and reduce by 50 percent, until thickened.

I am seriously thinking of trying it, sometime.