Beef stir fry

I saw a recipe (in Hebrew) for a beef stir fry the other week; it seemed interesting, and as I knew that tonight only my wife and I would be dining, it would be a good time for experimentation. I bought 500g of sirloin (in Hebrew, 'sinta'), cut into small strips by the butcher, which saved me having to do so.

About two hours before the meal, I unpacked the meat and gave it a light marinade of sweet chili sauce. Then I cut up vegetables: frozen green beans, carrots, yellow bell pepper, pumpkin and onion. I poured a few drops of soy sauce onto the pieces then put them in the fridge.

When it became clear that supper time was approaching, I heated some oil in the wok then added the strips of meat. I cooked the meat for about five minutes, turning it frequently to ensure that all the pieces had been cooked, at least to some extent. I then removed the meat from the wok and stored it in a glass dish.

Starting again with an almost clean wok, I added a little more oil, then added the onions and after a minute of two, all the vegetables. These had to be steamed more than fried, so after a few minutes of high heat and being turned frequently, I reduced the heat and covered the wok.

I steamed the vegetables for a few more minutes, occasionally lifting the lid and turning the vegetables until they were reasonably cooked. Obviously some of the vegetables - primarily the carrot pieces - weren't going to be cooked in this short period, but the idea was to cook them slightly whilst leaving them firm, providing crunchiness in the final product.

Finally I added the meat strips to the wok for final cooking. At the same time as the meat and vegetables were cooking in the wok, I prepared noodles. I've never done this before so I had to follow the instructions on the package: two cups of hot water to 50 g noodles, leaving them to sit for four minutes.

When I judged the food to be ready, it was time to serve. The final result was better than I expected, although next time I won't use sweet chili sauce but rather something else for a marinade, maybe something 'nutty' (although I'm not familiar with such a sauce). The final picture didn't come out too well because of the lighting: the portion was slightly more colourful than a brown lump.

I knew in advance that 500 g meat would be more than enough for two people but I ordered this amount of purpose so that there would be enough food left over for a few more days.