This Quick Thai-Style Beef & Peppers with Rice Noodles is a very colorful dish, with delicious Thai flavors. The basil and cilantro garnish, with a squeeze of lime juice made this a delicious fast dinner that will please your entire family.
Please raise your hand if you work full-time, but don’t want to resort to drive-thru places for take-out food to feed your family?
My refrigerator crisper always includes bell peppers and fresh jalapenos. Fresh ginger, is often frozen so I have it when I need it. Onions and garlic– I try to never run out. They never go to waste. Lemons and limes are always on hand, either store bought or picked from our trees. With these staples, I can usually make something fast and delicious.
Rice Stick pasta–it’s not usually a pantry staple, but I happen to have a few bags of this in my pasta box.( I have a serious addiction to hoarding a wide variety of pastas.)
It’s embarrassing how long I’ve stored this bag of pasta. Like, 2008? While skimming through some saved recipes I finally found the perfect recipe to use these rice noodles, and I was thrilled to see I had all of the pantry ingredients.
All I had to do was buy some flank steak and slice it thinly. I stopped by my local Mom & Pop grocery store, that has a great meat department. I asked for flank steak, and when the butcher held up a large chunk I nodded my head, without a clue of how much I really needed (note to self: next time, read the recipe and make note of how much to buy). I could’ve kissed my butcher when he offered to slice it nice and thin for stir-fry. This perk shaved off at least five or ten minutes of prep work!
The marinade is super fast to put together, and hopefully you keep most of these items in your pantry: low-sodium soy sauce, brown sugar, minced garlic, minced ginger, lime juice and cornstarch. Sherry, I’ve recently learned, makes Asian-inspired sauces taste even better– so I try to keep a bottle of it handy. This recipe calls for red chili paste or red chili oil. Yep, I remember buying it and storing it in the fridge. But, this time, neither were to be found. So, I grabbed some “Thai Red Curry Paste”, which is a staple in my fridge. This is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with— it has a little bit of kick, but won’t turn you into a fire breathing dragon. A fourth of the marinade is added to the meat, and set aside.
The trick to stir-fry is using high heat, and having all of your prep work ready to go. I invested in buying a Chinese Wok, and I love cooking with it. (You’d be surprised at how inexpensive they are to buy.) A cast-iron skillet would work well.
Quick Thai-Style Beef and Peppers with Rice Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 8 to 10-ounce package pad Thai rice noodles or linguine
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons sherry
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar packed
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced (I used 1 1/2 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon red chili paste or a few dashes red chili oil I used 1 teaspoon of Thai Red Curry Paste
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1-2 limes halved (I used 2 limes)
- 1 pound flank steak sliced very thin against the grain (I used 2-pounds)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 medium yellow onion sliced
- 1 red bell pepper cored and sliced into rings
- 1 tablespoon diced fresh jalapeno or 1 teaspoon diced hot pepper
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes optional
- Fresh basil leaves for garnish
- Fresh cilantro leaves for garnish
Instructions
- Cook the noodles according to the package directions.
- Note: I do recommend the rice noodles, as they are easy to find. Cook them a bit under (2 minutes) to al dente, as they will continue to cook once they are added to the stir fry.
For the marinade:
- In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, sherry, cornstarch, brown sugar, ginger, chili paste, garlic and the juice of half the lime.
- Pour a fourth of the marinade into a bowl with the sliced beef and toss to coat. Reserve the rest of the marinade for later.
For the stir fry:
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high to high heat. Note: I used a Wok, but a cast-iron skillet would have been my second choice. I don't recommend using a non-stick skillet, because you need to use high heat to make this.
- When the pan is very hot, throw in the onions and cook for a minute or so. Add the bell peppers and jalapenos. Cook for a minute, tossing until the peppers have brown/black bits but are still firm. Remove the vegetables to a plate.
- Into the hot skillet, add the remaining tablespoon of oil.
- Add the meat mixture, evenly distributing it over the surface of the skillet. Allow to sit for 45 seconds, then turn with tongs. Cook for another 30 seconds, then add the onions and peppers back into the skillet.
- Reduce the heat to low. Pour in the remaining marinade and stir. Allow to simmer on low for a few minutes; the sauce will slowly thicken. Turn off the heat.
- Drain the noodles, then add half of them to the stir-fry. Toss and add more noodles as desired. Stir in some very hot water if needed to thin the sauce.
- I recommend removing the noodles with tongs, so that the reserved water can be used to thin out the sauce, if it thickens too much. Plus, when I drained the noodles, they clumped together a lot, so now I know better and I'll use tongs next time.
- Top with basil and cilantro leaves and serve immediately with a squeeze of the remaining lime half. Add the red pepper flakes, if using. I didn't use them, and didn't miss them at all.
Notes
It's a gorgeous dish and it sounds delicious.
My pantry looks like yours, Debby. With ingredients like this it's easy to whip up a delicious dinner in no time. Can't wait to try this…it looks delicious. I might top it with a few chopped peanuts for good measure.
30 minute meals ALWAYS sound good to me!! And I love Thai flavors…so these are a no-brainer.
You said it right Debby, working full time and eating delicious (non-fast food) is my daily challenge too! And this recipe, I hate to sound redundant, but you truly had me at "THAI", my second favorite cultural cuisine! It must have smelled amazing! PINNING on my Thai pinterest board!
This really is a flavourful dish Debbie. I struggle to recreate the caliber of what I get from my local takeout.
I am one of those moms who struggles to get a decent meal on the table during the week. I try hard these days to keep my pantry stocked with quick go to items.
Your quick pasta dish looks delicious.
Velva