Time saver: when the lady wants satay noodles, she gets satay noodles.

When I asked what to cook for tea tonight, I got told “satay noodles”, so that’s what I did. The key thing with satay for me is getting the balance of the sauce right. It’s easy to end up with a really rich sauce that tastes great at first but quickly becomes overbearing. A lot of recipes use milk, cream, or coconut cream and that sometimes contributes to the problem, so this time around I left those out.

Quick note, I used tamarind paste, which is a fairly unusual ingredient for New Zealand cooking. It’s quite sour and has an interesting taste, and you can find little jars of it in most supermarkets. If you don’t have it and don’t want to buy it, just use the zest and juice of a lemon instead.

I hope you like it. (I’m nuts about nuts, so it works for me.)

Satay Noodles – serves 4

• 500g rump steak
• 2-3 shallots, peeled and chopped finely
• 2 Tbsp Thai sweet chilli sauce
• 3-6 Tbsp peanut butter (depending on how peanuty you like it)
• 1 Tbsp tamarind paste OR zest and juice of a small lemon (could add this even if you use the tamarind paste just for an extra kick)
• 1 Tbsp crushed ginger
• 1 tsp or 2-3 cloves crushed garlic
• 2 Tbsp peanut oil (or another vegetable oil – not olive oil)
• 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 large carrot, peeled, ends trimmed, cut into matchsticks
• 1 head brocolli, cut into florets
• 2 courgettes (zucchinis), ends trimmed, cut into rounds
• 600g udon or hokkien noodles
• 1/2 cup water (more if needed)

1. Trim fat from steak, then cut into strips (cutting across the grain) and place in a large bowl.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the chopped shallots, Thai sweet chilli sauce, peanut butter, tamarind paste, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and chilli flakes. (If using lemon add this too.)
3. Pour the sauce over the meat and stir through to coat meat evenly. Leave to marinate for a few minutes.
4. While the meat is marinating, prepare the other vegetables.
5. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large frying pan (electric non-stick is great) on medium-high heat.
6. When the frying pan is hot, add the meat and sauce mixture (scrape out bowl so you get all the flavour). Stir constantly for 3-4 minutes till meat is seared, then add vegetables and continue stirring.
7. After 2 more minutes, add the water, stir thoroughly and continue cooking for 3 more minutes. Add the noodles, stir well then cook for a further 3 minutes. Add water as needed if sauce starts to dry out. Then serve.