Blue Dragon Crispy Chilli Beef review

As I told you on this week's menu plan, I've decided to have a clear out in my food cupboard and use up some of the jars and sachets of cooking sauces that are lurking in there. It's actually been really nice to try out some new meals that we've never eaten before. Last night's dinner was a prime example : Blue Dragon Crispy Chilli Beef.

This is one of their restaurant-quality two step kits, comprising a tempura batter flour mix in the top part and a jar of sweet chilli sauce.

You chop up some beef and toss it in the flour mix, along with some salt and pepper

I fried it in a little olive oil in the wok. The flour mix mainly stuck to the bottom, despite constant stirring, and the beef didn't go crispy, as the name on the jar suggested. This is exactly what I said when I tried out the Lemon Battered Chicken jar, so maybe it's me ?! I actually thought the beef was slightly lacking in flavour and added some Montreal Steak seasoning, some garlic granules and some Chinese 5-Spice Seasoning. to jazz it up a bit

I decided to add loads of fresh veggies and got chopping up some carrots, onions, red peppers, orange peppers and mushrooms.

I stir fried these in a big frying pan (the wok was thrown in the sink to soak because it was covered in burnt flour bits !), then added the beef and poured over the jar of sweet chilli sauce.

I had planned on serving it with rice but the veggies stayed tooth-tender and bulked it out enough that I didn't need to so it was actually a very healthy meal. A half-jar serving contains 210 calories, 50.5g of carbs (of which 32.6g sugar) and 0.1g of fat (of which 0g saturates).

The 225g jar is only really big enough for two servings so this was a meal that me and Madhouse Daddy Mike enjoyed without the kids, but I think they'd have liked it too. It has a lovely sweet sauce that really brings alive the beef (but I did feel the batter needed extra spice) and only a very slight chilli kick.

star rating : 4/5

RRP : £1.89 for 225g

for more information : http://www.bluedragon.com/products/restaurant-specials/crispy-chilli-beef.aspx

Disclosure : I received a selection of Blue Dragon products in order to write an honest review.

Other reviews you may be interested in :

Blue Dragon Chow Mein Stir Fry sauce review

 Blue Dragon Restaurant Specials review

Blue Dragon Chinese Sticky Sauces review