Chinese Stir-Fried Beef

Stir-Fried Beef (Photo by sunday_driver/flickr)

Stir-Fried Beef (Photo by sunday_driver/flickr)

Everyone loves stir-fry. Try this delicious, easy-to-make Chinese favorite.

This is a recipe using budget-priced cuts of beef, but allow sufficient time for tenderizing. Use lean round, blade or skirt steak and freeze just long enough to firm the meat, since this makes it possible to cut very thin slices. Put the sliced beef into a bowl and for each 500 g (1 lb) of beef, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda in 3 tablespoons warm water. Pour over the beef and knead well until evenly distributed and absorbed. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours, overnight if possible. Proceed with the recipe. If time is short, you have to buy the more expensive tender cuts.

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

375 g/12 oz tender, lean grilling steak
1/2 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
4 tablespoons cold water
2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon oriental sesame oil
2 tablespoons peanut oil
4 spring onions (scallions), chopped

Directions

Freeze beef to firm it, then cut in thin, bite-sized slices across the grain. Combine garlic, salt and ginger and rub into beef, mixing well. Set aside for 10 minutes. Mix cornflour with water, soy sauce and sesame oil.

Heat a wok, add peanut oil and swirl to coat. Add beef and stir-fry over high heat until colour changes. Add spring onions and fry for 1 minute longer. Add cornflour mixture and stir until it boils and thickens. Serve immediately with rice.


Recipe excerpted from Encyclopedia of Asian Food by Charmaine Solomon (Periplus Editions, 1998)

I really like this recipe. I've been wanting to stir-fry beef but I've never been able to have the beef that tender like in a restaurant.

I think the important preparation is the baking soda because most of the recipes I've seen does not have this. But I've read that the meat should be rinsed off before cooking begins.

would like to find a great chow mein or lomein recipes. if possible please e-mail to me, thank you for your time

Post new comment

Your comments are welcome, please adhere to our guidelines

Be respectful. Personal attacks will not be tolerated; nor will profane, abusive or threatening posts.

Keep it short (150 words or less), Stay on topic.

Asia Society reserves the right to moderate all comments and remove or edit for guideline violations. Thank you.

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Type the characters you see in this picture. (verify using audio)
Type the characters you see in the picture above; if you can't read them, submit the form and a new image will be generated. Not case sensitive.