Recipe - huge beef stir fry with noodles - just 280 cals!

Make friends with this stir fry! Especially if you can't get much walking in, like me today, as it is pouring with rain. It is very low in calories and your plate can overflow before you even begin to touch that calorie bank account.

Tonight I am having beef stir fry made with RUMP steak, other nights I may have some chicken breast instead and noodles. The total calorie value for my meal is around 280 calories. So if you want something really savoury and satisfying here is the dish that will help you do that. It is surprising just how much beef - or how little - you will need to make a very satisfying portion. Here is what the piece of beef (which is going to make 2 servings) looked like before and after slicing very thinly. There is approximately 120g and which come to just 209 calories (that's just over 100 calories per person, and possibly more than you would get in a restaurant), here is how much that looks like:

The beef was then marinated in a mushroom Stir Fry sauce from the supermarket. We don't add any other seasoning as it is quite strong. If you don't have this stir fry sauce, we would use Soy Sauce, some grated ginger and a bit of garlic - again don't add further salt.

Remember we are after flavour and texture, enough to fill us up, and believe me, this will fill you up. This is a picture of the same 120g rump steak cut ready for the stir fry:

Today I used a packet of pre-prepared supermarket stirfry veg, all readily available. The whole pack is just 80 calories! That's 140 calories for the beef and the vegetables per portion so far. To which we are going to add a few more mushrooms and mangetout. This is your ultimate in fast food at a very low cost both to your budget and your calorie bank. Add whatever you like, peas, peppers, carrots etc. We will have a few noodles which will add around another 140 calories each to the meal. The whole meal is around 280 calories.

Here's what each portion looked like!

COOKING METHOD - SERVES 2 PEOPLE

While the beef is marinating, heat a saucepan to a low heat. Add some vegetable oil or sesame oil if you have some. Put in one small clove of garlic and just a thumb of sliced ginger (around 3g) and fry gently to soften, then remove from the pan and DISCARD. The garlic and ginger is just to FLAVOUR the oil. Turn the heat up then add the beef and fry for 1 or 2 minutes. Remove the beef and set to one side. Now add all the stir fry vegetables and fry for a couple of minutes. Return the beef to the pan to finish off.

If you are adding some noodles, cook according to the instruction in boiling water first, then rinse in cold water. I've noticed the calories are only listed per 100g cooked weight (140 cals)! An experiment shows that one of the 75g blocks of dry noodles will make 200g cooked, so that's 100g for each of us then. Pat dry then add to the stir fry.

Now you can choose whether to have something you really fancy?? Or maybe be extra good and think of all those calories you have added to your Calorie Bank Account??