Coconut and Beef Curry with Noodles

I'll be honest, I had absolutely no idea what we were going to have for dinner tonight.  First thing this morning I searched through the freezer and got out some frying steaks to defrost, but even looking at them I didn't really have any inspiration at the time.  Shall we have some Philly cheesesteaks - no.  How about some steak and blue cheese mini roulades - no (mainly because I don't have any blue cheese!!).  Dilemmas, dilemmas, dilemmas....

...after a search from front to back of the pantry and a browse through some cookbooks to give me some ideas, I decided on this curry.  Even though it would, I'm sure, taste wonderful if I had the inclination to mix up all the authentic spices and herbs, the easier and quite frankly just as delicious route is the use of the ready made curry paste that I found in the pantry.

Coconut and Beef Curry with Noodles
4 servings

8 oz vermicelli (rice noodles) or angel-hair pasta
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 lb beef frying steak, cut into thin strips
1 red onion, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
2 bell peppers, thinly sliced
1/4 cup water
1 Tbs Thai red curry paste
1 can (14 oz) unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tbs lime juice

• bring a large pot of water to a boil; add a generous amount of salt and cook the noodles until tender; drain.
• meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over medium-high.  Season the beef and cook, turning, until browned on both sides, 4-5 minutes.  Transfer the beef to a plate and set aside.
• add onion, peppers and the water to skillet; season with salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are crisp-tender, 3-4 minutes.
• add the curry paste and cook, stirring, until paste is combined completely and fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
• return the beef and any accumulated juices to the skillet and add the coconut milk.
• simmer until sauce thickens slightly, 4-5 minutes.
• remove from heat and stir in the lime juice, and season with salt and pepper if required.
• serve over the prepared noodles.

 Coconut and Beef Curry ingredients

cut the beef into thin slices, and then fry off in the oil until browned.

cut the vegetables fairly thinly, that way they don't need too long in the skillet.

 once you've fried the beef and set aside, saute the vegetables until crisp/tender - the hand belongs to my hubby - it's always a pleasure to have such a handsome helper :o)

fry the vegetables until crisp-tender, then add the curry paste - the smell at this stage is amazing.

add the beef back into the skillet with it's juices.

it might seem very 'liquidy' when you add the coconut milk, but within a couple of minutes it will thicken up nicely.

I'm not a big drinker, but today our niece and her fiancee had their first little baby girl, so we opened a bottle of wine to celebrate :o)