Air Fryer
Air fryer crispy chilli beef
The air fryer is brilliant for making foods with crispy textures, so this takeaway-inspired recipe works a treat.
Ingredients:
- 4 x 150g/5½oz minute beef steaks, very thinly sliced into strips
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 peppers, red or yellow, seeds removed and cut into chunks
- 2 onions, cut into 2cm/¾in chunks
- 1 red chilli, seeds removed, sliced
- 1½ tbsp vegetable oil
- 3 tbsp cornflour
- 2 tsp chinese five-spice powder
- 2 spring onions, sliced on an angle, to serve
- freshly cooked rice or noodles, to serve (optional)
- 2 tbsp sesame seeds (a mix of black and white, or whatever you have)
- 5 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp light brown sugar
- 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
Directions:
- Mix the beef strips with the soy sauce in a bowl. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
- Heat the air fryer to 190C. Toss the pepper, onion and chilli in ½ tablespoon vegetable oil and cook for 10 minutes.
- To make the glaze, set aside about a teaspoon of the sesame seeds for sprinkling. Mix the remaining seeds with all the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. Pour over the vegetables and return to the air fryer for 2 minutes. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
- Heat the air fryer to 200C. Add the cornflour, Chinese five-spice and remaining vegetable oil to the marinated beef mixture and mix well to coat. Lay the coated beef slices in the air fryer in a single layer, with space around them for the air to circulate. You may need to do this in two batches.
- Cook for 7 minutes until the beef strips have crisped up. Remove the tray halfway through and shake so that the beef pieces cook evenly.
- Once all the beef is cooked, pop the pepper and onion back in the air fryer for 2 minutes to heat up, then remove and mix with the crispy beef. Top with the spring onions and reserved sesame seeds and serve with rice or noodles, if using.