Sweet soy ostrich with pak choi

Quick, easy, healthy, virtually fat-free. What more could you ask for?? 

I love cooking with ostrich, I find it comparable to duck in many ways, just far more versatile. Similarly to duck, ostrich goes beautifully with Asian flavours but, in the same way as game, it can handle strong herbs such as rosemary, spices like black pepper or a punchy red wine reduction. It's a lean, healthy meat, with less fat than skinless chicken, need I say more?

This recipe is just so easy, you can't really bugger it up - so if you're in the mood for a little Asian (food that is, not a little Asian person - that's just wrong) give this one a bash and let me know what you think...

Sweet soy ostrich with pak choi

Ingredients: Serves 2

6 heads of pak choi (stalk removed and washed)

1 tbsp butter

250g ostrich fillets (allow them to come to room temperature if they are straight from the fridge)

Black pepper to season

1/3 cup sweet Indonesian soy sauce (available from most supermarkets)

1 tbsp corn flour mixed with 1 tbsp water

2cm piece of ginger (peeled and sliced)

1 clove garlic (peeled and sliced)

1 small chilli- optional (deseeded and sliced)

Spring onion to serve

Rice to serve (optional)

Method:

Once washed, steam the pak choi until just tender, drain of excess liquid, stir through butter and season with a little salt.

Heat a non-stick frying pan on the highest setting on your stove, once it begins to smoke slightly, season the fillets with black pepper and fry for 2 ½ minutes on each side for medium rare.* Place on a board, cover with foil and allow to rest while you make the sauce.

Turn the stove down a medium heat and, using the same frying pan, pour in soy, corn flour paste, garlic, ginger and chilli and stir for approx 2 minutes until slightly reduced and thickened.

Slice the ostrich and plate with equal amounts of pak choi and rice (if desired), garnish with spring onion and serve the sauce on the side.

Alternatively: Add the pak choi and sliced ostrich to the sauce and toss to coat, spoon over of bowls of rice and garnish with spring onion.

*Ostrich is generally served medium-rare as it can toughen up, so if you want it a little more well done I would take to medium but that's about it.