I have previously made this recipe with the egg fried rice, but liked the lime and coriander flavours in the beef stir fry so much that I wanted to try a carb-free version. This particular modification is without the rice, but with extra vegetables to bulk up the dish so it is suitable for a main meal. (Quantities are based on a serving for two people.)

You can view the original recipe on Jamie Oliver’s website.

Ingredients (strike through are ingredients omitted for Slow Carb version of the recipe and red are added ingredients)

• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup long-grain or basmati rice
• 1 x ½ pound top loin or sirloin
• A thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger
• 2 cloves of garlic
• ½ a fresh red chili
• 2 spring onions
• A small bunch of fresh coriander
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• Peanut or vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons of good-quality black bean sauce
• 2-3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 limes
• 1 egg, preferably free-range or organic

• 1 red pepper
• 1 yellow pepper
• 8 pieces of baby corn
• 12 mange tout

Method (strike through are the steps omitted in the Slow Carb version)

To prepare your stir-fry
Bring a pan of salted water to a boil, add the rice and cook according to the package instructions. Drain the rice in a strainer, run it under a cold tap to cool, then allow to dry out in the fridge. Trim any excess fat from your steak and slice the meat into finger-sized strips. Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic
Finely slice the chili. Cut the ends off your spring onions and finely slice. Chop the peppers, mange tout and baby corn into bite size pieces. Pick the coriander leaves and put to one side, and finely chop the coriander stalks. Get yourself a big bowl and put in the ginger, garlic, chili, spring onions, coriander stalks, and steak strips. Add the sesame oil and mix everything together.

To cook your stir-fry
Preheat a wok or large frying pan on a high heat and once it’s very, very hot add a good lug of peanut oil and swirl it around. Add all your chopped ingredients from the bowl. Give the pan a really good shake to mix everything around quickly. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, taking care to keep everything moving so
doesn’t burn. Add the black bean sauce, and stir in 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and the juice of half a lime. Keep tossing. Taste and season with black pepper and a little more soy sauce. Remove the pan from the heat, transfer everything to a bowl, and cover with aluminum foil. Give the pan a quick wipe with
ball of paper towels and put back on the heat. Add a lug of peanut oil and swirl it around. Crack in your egg and add a tablespoon of soy sauce  the egg will cook very quickly, so keep stirring. Once it’s scrambled, stir in your chilled rice, scraping the sides and the bottom of the pan as you go. Keep mixing for a few minutes until the rice is steaming hot, then taste and season with a little soy sauce. 

Garnish with the coriander leaves and serve with wedges of lime.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 7 minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Adaptability to Slow Carb: Easy, just omit the rice which is the part of the original recipe that takes the longest. Adding the peppers, corn and mange tout bulked up the recipe enough as a great replacement for the rice.

Taste: 10/10 – the coriander, lime and chili really kicks. I didn’t even notice I hadn’t eaten any carbs!

Satisfaction: 10/10 – didn’t miss the carbs at all