Easy Chinese Beef Stir Fry
Recipe video above. This is my classic Chinese Beef Stir Fry. It's easy and fast, and really does taste just like your favourite Chinese restaurant thanks for the stir fry sauce (the secret is Chinese cooking wine).Great recipe to use up whatever leftover greens you have in the fridge! And you'll love the velveting beef technique - simple and highly effective Chinese restaurant method for succulent, soft beef in stir fries.Tip: Instead of making this Sauce, you can use Charlie, my All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce (see Note 3)
Servings: 3 - 4
Calories: 159cal
Ingredients
Velveting the beef (tenderising)
- 7 oz / 200 g beef rump steak or flank , or any other quick cooking steak cut (Note 1)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda / bi-carbonate soda , for velveting (Note 2)
Sauce (Note 3)
- 2 tbsp soy sauce, light or all-purpose NOT dark soy (Note 4)
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine OR Mirin (Note 5)
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1/2 tsp sesame oil , toasted (brown) not untoasted (yellow)
- Pinch white pepper , substitute with black pepper
Sauce thickener
- 3 tsp cornstarch / corn flour
- 1/2 cup water , separated
Stir Fry
- 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
- 1 garlic clove , finely minced with a knife
- 1/2 small onion , sliced (yellow, brown or white)
- 1/2 red capsicum / bell pepper , sliced into 7mm / 1/3" thick slices
- 1 small carrot , peeled, halved lengthwise and sliced thinly on the diagonal
- 2 bok choy , cut leaves from stems, cut thick stems lengthways to make them all roughly the same width
- 2 green onion , cut into 1.5"/3cm pieces, firm white end separated from soft green parts
To Serve
- Steamed white rice
- Sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
Abbreviated recipe
- Tenderise beef 20 minutes, rinse, toss with 1.5 tbsp sauce. Mix in cornflour then water into Sauce. Stir fry in this order: onion + garlic > beef > carrot + capsicum + bok choy stems + green onion stems > sauce > wilt bok choy leaves + green onion. Serve!
FULL RECIPE
Velvet beef (tenderise)
- Velvet beef - Place the beef in a bowl. Sprinkle the baking soda over then use your fingers to toss the beef to coat as evenly as possible. Set aside for 20 minutes (no longer).
- Rinse the beef under tap water in a colander to remove baking soda. Shake and pat off excess water (doesn't need to dry fully, just don't want it soaking). Put in a bowl.
Cook stir fry
- Sauce - Mix ingredients together. Measure out 1 1/2 tablespoons and use it to coat the beef. To the remaining sauce, mix in the cornflour until lump-free, then add the water.
- Cook aromatics - Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan or wok over high heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook for 10 seconds.
- Add the beef and cook until it changes colour from red to light brown but not cooked through.
- Vegetables #1 - Add the capsicum, carrots, bok choy stems and white part of the green onions. Stir fry for 1 minute
- Add Sauce, then stir until it starts to bubble (it will thicken quickly)
- Leafy vegetables - Add the bok choy leaves and green part of the green onions. Toss for another 30 seconds to 1 minute until they are just wilted, the sauce thickens and becomes glossy, coating everything nicely.
- Serve immediately with rice - or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! Garnish with sesame seeds, if desired.
Notes
1. Beef - Scotch fillet (boneless rib eye) or porterhouse/sirloin (US: New York strip) can also be used, or any other cut of steak that you'd cook as steak.
I like to get rump roast (also called rump cap, sirloin cap, picanha or coulotte) - better value than steak and you can slice it into larger, restaurant-style pieces instead of thin strips. I cut the roast into smaller portions and freeze.
Slow cooking cuts - like chuck, oyster blade, gravy beef - use a slightly heaped 1/2 teaspoon and leave for 35 minutes, then rinse and proceed with recipe. Blade and bolar blade need 40 minutes, only cut I don't use is brisket (just doesn't seem to tenderise).
Other proteins - Chicken works perfectly (thigh is my preference, if using breast, tenderise it), pork and lamb work too - see ingredients section for more information on cuts and tenderising them.
2. Baking soda - Use for tenderising the beef the Chinese restaurant way (velveting). See here for more information about it.
3. Sauce shortcut - Instead of making this Sauce for this recipe, you can use 5 1/2 tablespoons of my Homemade All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce.(i.e. Skip all the Sauce ingredients AND cornflour. Use 1 1/2 tbsp for the beef, 4 tbsp for the stir fry). Add the same quantity of water specified in this recipe and follow all other directions in this recipe.
4. Soy sauce - Please use light or regular all purpose soy sauce for this. Do not use dark soy sauce (way too strong).
5. Chinese cooking wine is an essential ingredient for real stir fry sauces. The alcohol cooks out. Best substitutes: mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry. If you cannot get it or can't consume alcohol, substitute this and half the water with low sodium chicken tock.
LEFTOVERS will keep for 3 to 4 days, however, the sauce does get thinner when reheated (this is what happens with cornflour thickened sauces). If intentionally making ahead (fridge or freezing), substitute cornflour with arrowroot which won't go thin when reheated. See FAQ for more information.
Nutrition per serving assuming 4 servings, stir fry only.
Nutrition
Calories: 159cal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 13g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 683mg | Potassium: 380mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 4191IU | Vitamin C: 34mg | Calcium: 56mg | Iron: 1mg