TASTEFOOD: Add zing with Southeast Asian flavors

This Southeast Asian-inspired recipe is an easy meal that’s meant to be served family-style and guarantees to brighten up your weekly menu plan.

The bottom of the dish is a tangle of ramen noodles, coated in a citrusy sesame-ginger sauce, which additionally serves as a dressing to drizzle over the dish. Seared skirt steak strips, rapidly marinated in a sweet-and-sour sauce aromatic with lemongrass, infuses an additional wallop of taste and spice that belies the benefit of getting ready this dish.

The important thing to this recipe is assembling the listing of Asian components for the marinade and dressing, lots of that are widespread pantry staples or simply present in well-stocked supermarkets. The excellent news is that they’ve lengthy shelf lives, so as soon as you buy them, you’ll be able to simply put together different Asian-inspired soups, curries and stir-fries.

Lemongrass is a recent ingredient discovered within the produce part of the grocery store. Often known as citronella, it resembles a woody spring onion and has an fragrant floral and lemony taste that’s concentrated within the oil within the heart of the stalk.

For the marinade on this recipe, the stalk want solely be gently crushed with the facet of a knife after which sliced to launch its taste. (For different dishes the place the lemongrass is eaten, the outer stalks ought to be eliminated, and the middle stalks minced or pounded to a paste.)

If recent lemongrass will not be out there, jarred lemongrass paste could be substituted. Merely add 2 teaspoons of the paste to the marinade.

This recipe requires budget-friendly skirt steak, which is much less widespread in Southeast Asian delicacies. The meat could be rapidly marinated, or higher but, let it marinate within the fridge for as much as 24 hours to construct extra taste. Hen or tofu could be substituted for the protein if most popular.

Spicy Lemongrass and Chile Skirt Steak Noodles

Energetic Time: half-hour

Whole Time: half-hour, plus marinating time

Yield: Serves 4 to five

Marinade:

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons recent lime juice

2 tablespoons candy chile sauce

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 lemongrass stalk, white half solely, outer leaves eliminated, stalk gently crushed then thinly sliced (or 2 teaspoons lemongrass paste)

1 1/2 to 1 3/4 kilos skirt steak, sliced in opposition to the grain in 1-inch strips

Dressing:

2 tablespoons recent lime juice

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons tahini

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 garlic clove, minced

2 teaspoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon finely grated peeled recent ginger

1/4 teaspoon Sriracha or Asian scorching sauce

8 to 9 ounces raw ramen noodles

Vegetable oil for pan frying

1 to 2 crimson or inexperienced jalapeno chile peppers, seeded and thinly sliced

1/4 cup recent cilantro leaves

1/4 cup torn recent mint leaves

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Lime wedges

Mix the marinade components in a big bowl and whisk to mix. Add the skirt steak and stir to totally coat. Let stand for half-hour (or cowl the bowl and refrigerate at for as much as 24 hours, stirring often).

Whisk the dressing components in a small bowl.

Cook dinner the noodles till al dente per bundle directions. Drain and switch to a bowl. Pour half of the dressing over the drained noodles and toss to coat.

Warmth 1 tablespoon oil in a big skillet over medium-high warmth. Take away the steak from the marinade and add to the skillet, with out overcrowding, in batches if obligatory. Sear the steak strips till cooked to your required doneness, about 5 to 7 minutes for medium-rare. Switch to a plate and repeat with the remaining meat.

To serve, unfold the noodles on a serving platter or in a shallow serving bowl. Organize the skirt steak strips over the noodles. Scatter the chili peppers, cilantro, mint and sesame seeds over and across the steak.

Drizzle the remaining sauce over the steak and noodles to your style. Serve garnished with lime wedges.

Lynda Balslev is a cookbook creator, meals and journey author, and recipe developer based mostly within the San Francisco Bay space, the place she lives together with her Danish husband, two kids, a cat and a canine. Lynda studied cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Delicacies in Paris and labored as a private chef, culinary teacher, and meals author in Switzerland and Denmark.