Yes, you read that right, liquorice! And for those of you who don't like liquorice, be brave and try it, you will be surprised how good it is :)
I was flicking through a few of my many cook books because I had some lovely steaks and I really wanted to do something new and different. And even though I didn't use any of the recipes that I saw, they inspired me to do this one. And to me, that's what recipes are all about and the reason why I do this, to inspire you to try something different. I very rarely follow a recipe from a-z and sometimes just use them as a guideline and then put my own twist on it. And I really hope that's something you do with my recipes, and if you do, please let me know because I would love to hear your comments.
This is a recipe where I use different types of aniseed flavours and they really work! And to have the steak with some noodles is a great combo. I wouldn't see my self having this kind of steak with a jacket potato or chips. This is so easy, only a few ingredients for the steak and then you can just use the vegetables you have in the fridge for the noodles. I used rice vermicelli noodles but you can use what ever noodles you like. I marinated the steaks for an hour and the really don't need much longer, if you only have 15 minutes that's absolutely fine.
This recipe really surprised me, it took very little time and minimum effort but maximum flavour! And how beautiful are those colours?
For the steaks
4 200 gr. steaks, I used rump
2 star anise
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 garlic cloves, crushed or grated
2 tablespoons brown sugar
salt and black pepper
Start by grounding up the star anise and fennel seeds. I like using a pestle and mortar but you just use the tools you have. Try and get it as fine as you can. Mix it with the garlic and brown sugar and season with a generous pinch of salt and black pepper. Rub this on the steaks and let them marinade for 15 minutes to an hour.
Cook the steaks on a high heat, in a griddle pan, normal pan or like I did, on the barbecue. I like my steaks medium to medium rare so I cook them for about a minute and a half on each side. Once the steaks are cooked, remove from the heat and let them rest for 5-10 minutes.
For the noodles
rice noodles
thumbsize piece of ginger
1 onion
1 fresh lemongrass
few mushrooms
1/2 red pepper
1/-1 red chilli
Red beet sprouts or any other sprouts
green beans
2 cloves of garlic
2 spring onions
small handful fresh coriander
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
Start by cooking the noodles according to instructions on the packet. Roughly chop the onion, mushrooms and pepper. Grate the ginger, finely chop the chilli and lemongrass and grate or crush the garlic. Heat some oil in a pan/wok and add the ginger, onion, lemongrass and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes on a medium/high heat and make sure the ginger doesn't stick to the pan and burn. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for a further 2 minutes. Add all the liquid and the juice from the rested meat. Let this cook for a minute or two. Add the noodles, sprouts, chopped spring onions and coriander. Serve with the steaks.