As you blankly stare into your pantry with little to no intention of actually doing anything, you sigh because it’s Wednesday and who the F can be bothered. If you’re where I’m from, the suns out and the beach is calling you. If you’re from where I lived, it’s freezing and dark outside and which equates to buying chocolate and getting curry delivered. Shift your eyes down as if you’re any sort of adult, you should at least have soy sauce, fish sauce and oyster sauce on hand so you really have no excuse tonight. I’m not afraid to ask the tough questions. I’ll be the bitch, that’s OK. I’m like the friend version of a complex carbohydrate. You just can’t walk away.

Easy Thai Beef Basil with Veg & Cashews

Serves 4

Ingredients

250g sliced beef
1 onion, sliced
5 cloves of garlic, sliced
1-3 red chillies, finely chopped
1 red capsicum, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
Handful of broccoli florets
1 cup of thai basil
Handful of cashew nuts

Sauce:
4tbs soy sauce
2tbs kecap manis – sweet soy
2tbs fish sauce
2tbs oyster sauce
1tsp caster sugar

Method

Make sure you have all your veggies chopped and ready to go before you start this recipe. In a cup, combine all the sauce ingredients together then leave aside.

Heat a little oil in a wok and over a high heat, stir fry the beef until brown on all sides then transfer into a bowl and leave aside.

Add the onion, garlic and chilli to the wok and stir fry a minute before adding all the veg. Keeping the heat up high, stir through for 5 minutes then pour in the sauce. Once bubbling away, add the beef back to the wok along with the cashews and thai basil. Serve with rice.

Kitchen notes...

Feel free to use any veg you like. The more the merrier.
Not into beef? No problemo. Any protein will work just as well.