My husband loves beef in black bean sauce, and it's a quick meal to throw together if you use a pre-made, good quality black bean sauce as a base.
If you use a nice quality piece of beef such as sirloin or rump steak, then there is no need to 'velvet' the beef first. Velveting is a technique that softens the meat, and is achieved by adding baking soda to the marinade.
Birds eye green chilli can be added to mix if you wish to try a hotter version, but personally I don't think this recipe needs it.
In terms of vegetables, then we prefer onion and red and green pepper, but mange tout and baby corn are good alternatives.
Serves 2
2 tablespoons of vegetable
250g sirloin or rump steak
1 small/medium white onion
½ green pepper
½ red pepper
1 teaspoon of grated/crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of grated ginger
For the marinade
1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine (or sherry)
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1 tablespoon of cornflour
For the stir fry sauce
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce
1 tablespoon of Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon of black bean sauce
¾ tablespoon of dark soy sauce
- Slice the beef into thin slices.
- Mix together the marinade ingredients and add the beef. Set aside for 10-15 minutes.
- Peel and dice the onion into 2cm chunks.
- Cut the peppers in half, deseed them and cut into 2cm chunks.
- Peel the garlic and ginger and finely grate.
- Mix together the stirfry sauce ingredients and set aside.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat.
- Once the oil is hot, add the beef and stir fry until the beef has browned (see image). Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the pepper and onion to the pan and stir fry until the vegetables are starting t soften and brown/blacken (see image).
- Add the beef, garlic and ginger to the pan and stir fry for a couple of minutes, being careful not to let the garlic burn.
- Reduce the heat and add the stir fry sauce. Stir well and cook for a further couple of minutes.
- Remove from the heat and serve with rice.
