This dish originated near the border of Qinghai and Gansu, in the land known as Amdo where the 14th Dalai Lama was discovered at the age of two. He was born Lhamo Dhondup on the 6th of July 1935 in the village of Taktser 18 months after the previous Dalai Lama’s death. His parents were subsistence farmers, farming with dzomo and yak and his mother gave birth to him in a cow shed on a straw mat.   It’s a windy region where many young people today prefer fast motor cycles to horses in the towns even though a motor cycle is of little use in the winter snow.

Ping Sha is normally made with the same yak or dzomo meat with which the Dalai Lama’s parents made a living and, obviously, beef  is the natural choice in countries where no yak meat is available. It’s a warming dish, more suited to cold weather than to a hot summer’s day but is so tasty and so pleasing to the palate with it’s sensual variety of textures that it cannot be left out of any discussion on Tibetan food.

Ingredients

• 500 g rump, sirloin of entrecote – the important thing is that the meat is boneless
• 500 g oyster mushrooms  or  mixture of dried shitake and porcini mushrooms
• 250 g cellophane noodles
• 2 medium leeks, sliced lengthways into thin ribbons & then cut into 3 cm strips
• 3 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 tsp sesame seed oil
• 3 tbsp grated ginger
• 1 tbsp cardamom seeds, ground (they are removed from the green pods & then ground)
• 3 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 500 ml home made beef stock
• 250 ml water

Method

• If you are using dried mushrooms, cover in hot water and keep covered for about 20 minutes, drain and reserve the liquid – you’ll need about 300 ml.
• Slice the mushrooms into thin strips – about ½ cm should be fine.
• Put the cellophane noodles in a wide dish, cover with hot water and soak them for about 10 minutes, drain and slice them into long strips – about 16 – 20 cm.
• Put a large wok onto high heat, as soon as it’s hot, add ½ the peanut oil and lower the heat to medium – add the ginger and the leek strips and stir fry until the leeks have softened – then add the meat and the salt and stir fry for about 2 minutes just until the meat has changed colour.
• Remove from the stove and put the meat on a separate plate.
• Rinse out the wok with about 250 ml water but don’t throw the water away – add it to the mushroom liquid or alternatively to water (you’ll need about 500 ml liquid at this stage) and set aside.
• Return the wok to the stove and set it to medium  high, add the rest of the peanut oil, swirl and put in the mushrooms, stir fry for a few minutes – press the mushrooms against the wok until they are soft and liquid starts to pour out of them.
• Add the reserved liquid, the noodles, the soya sauce and the oyster sauce and simmer briskly for a minute before you pour in the beef stock and bring everything to the boil, boiling briskly for a minute.
• Lower the heat to medium, add all the spices and flavourings and stir – check and correct your seasoning, remove from wok into serving dish and serve immediately.