Chinese Style Beef and Black Bean Stir-Fry

There are these sort of dishes that seem to appear on every Chinese takeaway menu. You know they are these ordinary standard dishes, but somehow you always end up ordering them, because they are a safe option and admittedly tasty. Here is the ultimate classic Chinese dish to cook at home - guaranteed grease-free! 

Fermented black bean sauce is a common household condiment in the Chinese kitchen. Due to its deep salty flavour, it is more a cooking sauce rather than a dipping sauce. It has a very distinctive flavour and scent that can be quickly recognise just by passing a Chinese restaurant. It is often used in meat stir-fry dishes or vegetable dishes. I personally think it suits best with beef.    

This is my own take on a classic Chines dish. Normally, there is no need to use a prime cut of meat to do a stir-fry. But I decided to add a bit of decadence to this dish and get some extra tenderness from the meat. Therefore, I bought a beautiful cut of rump steak. But any lean meat that is not streaky would do as well. You can marinate the meat with Shaoxing wine, which is both a beverage and cooking wine, or replace it with any rice wine to make the meat soft, especially if your meat is not a prime cut. 

The crucial thing about stir-fries is – you name it – to stir and fry quickly on high heat while spinning and tossing the pan. You probably saw sweaty Chinese chefs spinning and tossing their woks ferociously on TV before. This is how it should be done ideally. Stir-frying is a very short cooking process that needs a quick hand. You might want to have a dry run ahead. 

Give this recipe a try and you might never need to call a Chinese take away again. 

Ingredients 

300 g rump steak or filet

2 bell peppers

2 spring onions

1 onion

2 gloves of garlic

1 small ginger root

2 tbsp. fermented black bean sauce

1 tbsp. Shaoxing wine 

1 tbsp. all purpose flour

1 tbsp. sunflower oil

1 tsp. soy sauce

1 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. chilli oil 

salt and freshly grounded pepper

Preps

Slice the beef into thin strips and marinate it with grated ginger, salt and pepper, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce and sesame oil. Dust the flour to coat the beef just before you are going to stir-fry it. The coating of the sesame oil and the dust of the flour will prevent the meat form drying out and getting tough during the cooking process, while maintaining shiny and glossy. 

While the beef is marinating, mince the garlic and cut the onion into thick slices, and separate the layers of the onion. Remove the seeds from the peppers and cut them into small bite size pieces. Wash the spring onions and cut them roughly into 5 cm long pieces. 

Cooking

Give a tablespoon of sunflower oil in a pan or ideally a wok – because it’s a Chinese stir-fry, and fry the minced garlic quickly on high heat. Add the marinated beef and separate the beef strips with your spoon or chopsticks if they stick together. When the beef is half-cooked, add the fermented black bean sauce and stir until the beef loses its pink colour. Remove the beef quickly from the wok to avoid overcooking it. 

Fry the onion and pepper with a tiny small amount of oil in the same pan on high heat, and season with a pinch of salt. When the vegetables are halfway through, add the fried beef and spring onions and stir till everything is cooked. Drizzle with some chilli oil and serve the stir-fry quickly while still hot with freshly steamed white rice.