The trick to this recipe is to use the best beef you can buy and ensure all your vegetables are market fresh. If you have time to marinate the beef overnight, even better.

Preparation time:

10 minutes (plus marinate for 30 minutes or longer)

Cooking time:

15 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 lemongrass stick, chopped
• 2 tsps Thai red curry paste
• 2 tsps Thai fish sauce
• Juice of half a lime
• 400g fillet steak
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 100g bamboo shoots, shredded
• 100g salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 200g baby spinach leaves
• 500g thin rice noodles
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 8 spring onions, sliced
• 3 tbsps Nuoc Cham (Thai dipping sauce)
• 2 handfuls fresh coriander, chopped
• 2-3 baby courgettes, sliced into ribbons
• Juice of half a lime
• Pinch of salt
• 2 red chillies, sliced

Method:

Step 1: For the marinade, mix all the ingredients together and pour over the beef. Leave to marinate for as long as possible.

Step 2: Heat oil in a pan and fry marinated beef (reserve excess marinade) for 2 minutes on each side. Set aside. Fry the bamboo shoots and peanuts with the remaining marinade. Add the spinach, remove from the heat and cover to allow it to wilt.

Step 3: Cook the noodles and toss in sesame oil, spring onions, Nuoc Cham and half the coriander. Slice the beef and keep warm.

Step 4: Dress courgettes with lime juice, the remaining coriander and salt. Pile the ingredients on top of a bed of noodles, garnish with sliced chillies and serve.

From The Red Hot Chilli Cookbook by Dan May (£16.99, Ryland Peters & Small)