Instructions: Combine the beef and beef seasoning ingredients. Set aside for 10 minutes.

Cook the walnuts in boiling water for about 6 minutes; drain. Spread the walnuts out to dry.

Pour the groundnut oil into a preheated wok and heat until it is just smoking. Turn the heat to low, add the walnuts, and stir slowly. Continue frying the walnuts over low heat until golden brown and crisp. Remove, drain and place on paper towels. Leave the oil in the wok.

Cut grooves along the carrots length at about 1/2-inch intervals. Cut the carrot crosswise into 1/4-inch slices.

Heat the oil in the wok until moderately hot. Deep-fry the beef for 1 minute. Remove with a slopped spoon and set aside. Pour off the oil, leaving 1 tablespoon of oil behind. Saute the carrot flowers, ginger and the scallions. Add the walnuts and toss all together for 1 minute. Return the beef to the wok to "marry" with the other ingredients. Stir in the seasonings over high heat.

Serve with steamed rice.

This recipe yields 4 servings.

Comments: The Song dynasty, especially the era of the southern Song (AD 1126-1279), is known as Chinas Golden Age. With increased wealth from overseas trade, suddenly during this time there was a new, middle-class elite who began to be interested and indulge in good food in a way seen before only amongst the wealthy.

This new middle class in the South created and developed their own culinary style distinct from the imperial legacy and adopted a more hybrid style utilizing the natural resources around them. The result was a simpler, better-balanced style of cooking that has continued to this day. Beef was still not greatly used, but specific cuts were used in simple dishes like the one above.

From his travels in China, Marco Polo records nuts of every description: pine nuts, almonds, chestnuts, fox nuts and walnuts (which were introduced from Persia [Iran] in the early medieval centuries).

Beef and walnuts is a dish that reflects the flowering of a cuisine that still holds a strong place in the culinary repertoire of the southerners.

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