Stir-Fried Steak with Lotus Root & Peas

I spent the day with my mom yesterday wandering around Manhattan. After we had some tasty Korean BBQ at Kang Suh, we ended up at the Asian Supermarket across the street. I was ecstatic when I learned I could buy lotus root! This is one of my favorite vegetables but it is nearly impossible to obtain unless you go to a specialty store. This stir fry is made with supremely good quality meat...I used a filet of Allen Brother's Steak that Marc's mom sent to us. So I purposely undercooked the meat a little. It was so nice and tender and was a great complement to the crunchy lotus and sweet organic peas.

The lotus root I used was fresh and packaged in water. However, if you are lucky enough to buy it raw, you should just wash the mud off, peel it, and slice it into 1 cm think slices.

Ingredients:

16 oz lotus root (you can use less if you want but I LOVE it)
1 filet steak (~12-16 oz)
2 T water
3 T rice cooking wine
1 T shoyu
2 T black bean sauce
1 T sesame oil
1 heaping t chili sauce
3/4 t freshly ground sea salt
1/4 t freshly ground black pepper pepper
1 T peanut oil
4 slices of ginger
8 oz frozen peas
4 scallions, sliced
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
white rice (optional)

Serves 3-4.

1. Rinse the lotus root off to remove any excess salty water.

2. Slice steak up into small pieces.





3. Combine water, rice cooking wine, shoyu, black bean sauce, sesame oil, and chili sauce in a small bowl and set aside.
4. Grind salt and pepper and set aside.
5. Heat wok until a drop of water evaporates in 1 second.

6. Add oil and heat for a few seconds. Add ginger and stir fry for about a minute until the oil is fragrant. Add meat and stir fry until almost cooked (or to the temperature you like). Remove from heat and set aside on a plate (do not cover). (Note: I cooked my meat until it was medium rare. The meat will continue to cook on the plate as it sits and will cook some more when you add it back into the veggies later. So you want to keep this in mind when you are cooking it.)
7. Add lotus root and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add peas and scallions and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
8. Add salt ∧ pepper and mix. Add sauce to the veggies and stir reducing for another minute.
9. Add meat back into the pan and mix until combined and hot.
10. Serve immediately over rice.