Make a slurry (no lumps), of cold water and 1 tbsp cornflour in a bowl. Set aside. Take the beef steak. Trim off any fat. Take a piece of cling film and lay it over the beef. Using a rolling pin smash the beef out nice and thin, (unless it's already a very thin cut). This makes the meat go further and also partially tenderises it. Now using a really sharp knife, and cutting against the grain of the meat, slice the steak into really thin long strips, around 3-4mm wide.
Place the thin beef strips into the cornflour slurry and leave to sit at room temperature, or if you'd like in a fridge for an hour. This removed the blood from the beef and makes it really soft and tender.
Once the hour has passed, remove the beef and set upon some kitchen towel to remove any excess water. Dredge the beef into the beaten egg, then place onto the tray scattered with the cornflour until evenly coated. I'd recommend not using your hands for this but using a couple of forks to toss the strips in the cornflour/potato starch, otherwise it'll get very messy as it'll clump into your hands!
Heat some oil up in a wok until hot (around 1 cm deep, enough for shallow frying). Once really hot place the beef strips in to shallow fry. You may need to do this in two batches. Replenish the cooking oil if needed between batches. As the beef fries, make up the sweet chilli sauce by combining all the ingredients listed on the sauce section of the recipe. Stir until no lumps are seen.
Once the beef is done, lay it on kitchen towel to remove any excess oil. Discard any random small chunks of batter from the beef. Next discard the tainted oil from the wok carefully. Leave enough oil to coat the wok. Add in the carrots and onion strips and stir fry for a couple of minutes then add in the red chillies and spring onion plus the MSG. Stir fry whilst moving the ingredients around the wok quickly for about 30-40 seconds.
Add the sauce to the wok and allow it to reduce down for about 20-30 seconds until nice and thick. Add the crispy beef strips back into the wok and toss everything together until evenly coated in the sauce. Do this very quickly so the beef remains as crispy as possible. Note: potato starch usually gives a crunchier finish than cornflour as a coating but can be tricky to get hold of.
Serve up and enjoy with your choice of side(s)! :)
