Spicy Stir-fried Beef with Mixed Peppers

Name: Spicy Stir-fried Beef with Mixed Peppers
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 13 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Thai
Ingredients: 8 oz Beef tenderloin steak sliced thin across the grain; 5 Thai long chilies mixed colors, sliced diagonally, mostly seeded; 3 Wax peppers sliced diagonally; 4 Thai hot chilies to taste, can be omitted; 2-3 cloves Garlic roughly ground with the hot chili; 1/2 Brown or yellow onion sliced into wedges; 4 oz Cloud ear fungus base trimmed, torn if large; 1/3 cup Chicken or vegetable stock; 2 3/4 teaspoons Oyster sauce; 1 1/4 teaspoons Fish sauce; 1 1/4 teaspoons Light soy sauce; 1 1/4 teaspoons Sugar

Neua Pad Prik On

Thin-sliced beef stir-fried with a colorful mix of crisp mild peppers

Spicy Stir-fried Beef with Mixed Peppers

Prep: 5 min
Cook: 8 min
Serves: 4
Heat: medium

This stir-fry is built around color and texture as much as flavor: a mix of red, green, and yellow mild peppers stays crisp against tender strips of beef and dark, slightly chewy cloud ear fungus. A little hot chili, ground together with garlic before frying, brings a background heat that's easy to scale up or down, while the peppers themselves stay mild and crunchy. The whole dish comes together fast in the last few minutes of cooking, since overcooked peppers lose the bite that makes the dish interesting.

Ingredients

8 oz Beef tenderloin steak (sliced thin across the grain)
5 Thai long chilies (mixed colors, sliced diagonally, mostly seeded)
3 Wax peppers (sliced diagonally)
4 Thai hot chilies (to taste, can be omitted)
2-3 cloves Garlic (roughly ground with the hot chili)
1/2 Brown or yellow onion (sliced into wedges)
4 oz Cloud ear fungus (base trimmed, torn if large)
1/3 cup Chicken or vegetable stock
2 3/4 teaspoons Oyster sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons Fish sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons Light soy sauce
1 1/4 teaspoons Sugar

Directions

Slice the mixed peppers diagonally, removing most of the seeds. Slice the onion into wedges. Trim the cloud ear fungus and tear into pieces if large. Slice the beef thinly across the grain so it stays tender.
Roughly grind or chop the garlic and hot chili together. Heat oil in a large wok over low heat and fry the garlic and chili slowly until softened.
Raise the heat to high, add the beef, and stir-fry for a few minutes until nearly cooked through.
Add the oyster sauce, fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Keep stirring and fry until the beef is well coated and slightly sticky.
Pour in the stock and stir it through. Add the mixed peppers, onion, and cloud ear fungus. Stir well and let everything heat through.
Fry just until the peppers soften slightly, then turn off the heat right away to keep them crisp. Serve on a shared platter or over rice as a plate lunch.

Notes

Pull the pan off the heat the moment the peppers start to soften — a few extra seconds and they lose the crisp bite that makes this dish work.

Substitutions

Bell peppers of any color work fine in place of Thai long chilies and wax peppers if those aren't available. Shiitake mushrooms are a good substitute for cloud ear fungus.