This is a lovely dish to serve to friends for a casual Friday night dinner.

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp
• 4 tablespoons dry sherry or water
• 500 grams beef for stir frying
• freshly ground black pepper
• Indonesian soy sauce to season
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
• 4 long red chillies, sliced
• 150 grams snow peas or round beans blanched
• ½ red pepper, cored and sliced
• 2 tablespoon each fish sauce and brown or grated palm sugar
• ¼ cup fresh mint leaves
• cashews to serve, optional

Method

1. Knead the tamarind in the water and when a muddy brown consistency strain and reserve 2 tablespoons of the liquid.
2. Season the beef well with ground black pepper and a little Indonesian soy sauce. Heat a good dash of oil in a wok and sear the beef quickly over a moderately high heat.
3. Add the garlic, chillies, red pepper and snow peas or beans and stir quickly over a high heat. Once the vegetables are beginning to warm (do not burn the garlic), add the tamarind water, fish sauce and brown sugar.
4. Add the mint leaves, toss well to mix and then season with salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. Serve over rice vermicelli noodles and top with cashew nuts if wished.