Chinese Stir Fry: Sichuan Beef With Red & Green Peppers
Here is a simple stir-fried beef dish with colorful strips of red and green peppers, a quick marinade, and a tasty sauce of Sichuanese sweet bean paste and soy sauce. Authentic Chinese cooking does not get much easier than this. There’s a little prep work involved – cutting the beef into thin strips that will cook quickly, and cutting the peppers into matching strips; mixing the sauce ingredients – but once the ingredients are ready, the actual stir-frying is completed in a matter of minutes. Be sure to have the rice ready.
Heat & Knives
The Recipe
Source: Land of Plenty
½ pound lean beef (flank steak is good)
½ a red bell pepper and ½ a green bell pepper
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Sichuanese sweet bean paste mixed with 2 teaspoons water
peanut oil
For the marinade:
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
2 teaspoons potato flour or 3 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons water
For the sauce:
1 ½ teaspoons light soy sacue
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon potato flour or ¾ teaspoon cornstarch
3 tablespoons everyday stock or chicken stock
Cut the beef against the grain into very fine slivers and place it in a bowl. Add the marinade ingredients and mix well. Cut the peppers into long, thin strips to match the beef. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over a medium flame. Add the bell peppers and ¼ teaspoon of salt and stir-fry for about a minute, until they are just cooked. Remove and set aside. Rinse out the wok.
Add 2 teaspoons of oil to the beef and mix well.
Season the wok, then add 3 tablespoons of oil and heat over a high flame. When it is just beginning to smoke, add the beef and stir-fry briskly. When the meat strips have separated out, add the sweet bean paste and stir-fry for about 10 seconds until the sauce is hot and fragrant. Add the peppers and mix well. Immediately give the sauce a stir and add it to the wok. Stir for a few seconds more until the sauce has thickened and then turn everything out onto a serving plate.
Other Chinese recipes:
Savory Chinese Braised Pork Belly
Chinese Boiled Beef in Fiery Sichuan Broth
Hot-and-Numbing Dried Beef & Sesame Beef
Sichuan Dry Fried Beef Slivers
