I love Chinese food as do most Americans that have access to good Chinese restaurants. If the Chinese restaurants in your neighborhood are awful (unfortunately all too common), you can get around the problem by making Chinese food at home.
The Chinese have been perfecting their food for 5000 years. Given all that experience, they have refined their cooking techniques and ingredients so that just about anyone with hands and a nose can do pretty well with all but the most complex dishes. I'll bet you didn't know that the Chinese used knives and forks 2000 years ago! Since then, they figured out that, if all the food was cut into bite-sized pieces, they could get rid of the forks and use the much more efficient chopsticks! Western cooking isn't there yet, but then again, the Chinese have a 3000-year head start.
This dish will serve 2 people as a main course and lots more as part of a varied meal. I like it served over plain steamed long grain rice.
Make sure that you use an appropriate cut of meat, one that can be cooked quickly and be tender. Any of the better steaks (filet, strip, ribeye) or flank steak cut cross-grain are good choices. The Chinese ingredients are generally available in most metropolitan markets. If you can't find them, they can be ordered online from many sources.
Traditionally, This dish would be made in a wok, but any large skillet will do the job just as well. Note that the total cooking time is only about 5 minutes.
Ingredients
1/2 lb steak, cut into thin bite-size slices
1 Tbs Sesame oil
1 Tbs Oyster sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs Cornstarch
Peanut or canola oil for frying
2 cloves Garlic, pressed
1" piece Fresh ginger, minced
2 Tbs Chinese salted black beans
2 Green bell peppers, bite-size diced
2 Tbs Chicken stock or water
1 Tbs Dark soy sauce
1 Tbs Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
Large pinch Kosher salt or Sea salt
Large pinch Freshly ground black pepper
Directions
- Marinate the beef in a mixture of sesame oil, oyster sauce, black pepper and cornstarch for at least 30 minutes.
- Stir-fry the beef in a bit of oil just until browned. Reserve.
- Add a bit more oil and stir fry the garlic and ginger until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
- Add black beans and mash them against the sides of the wok with your spatula.
- Add beef, green peppers and stock (or water). Stir fry 60 seconds. Add soy sauce, wine, salt and pepper. Stir-fry just long enough to heat through.
- If the dish seems a bit dry add more stock or water. If it is too wet, thicken with a bit of cornstarch slurry (1 Tbs cornstarch dissolved in 1 Tbs water).
Michael Burwen - 30+ years as a business/market analyst for high-tech industry. Long-time interests are wine/food, woodworking, and consumer electronics.
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