Easy Classic Chinese Beef Stir Fry Recipe

That is made with a easy however tremendous flavourful, basic Chinese language stir fry sauce. It’s an actual sauce, one which tastes identical to you get at correct Chinese language eating places!

Stir fries are my go-to for these nights once I can’t cope with greater than the naked minimal effort for dinner. I do know I can all the time knock up a stir fry utilizing no matter greens I’ve left in my fridge. Even when I solely have inexperienced beans and an onion (and a few protein!). So long as I’ve a tasty sauce, I’m one pleased gal!

So I’ve a secret weapon for tremendous quick midweek meals – a home made all function stir fry sauce. I name him Charlie. As in – Charlie Brown, as a result of it’s a brown sauce. Ha ha ha. Don’t kill your self laughing at my lack of originality!

Charlie is my secret weapon as a result of he takes minutes to make and lasts within the fridge for weeks and weeks. He’s just like the sauce of many Chinese language stir fries, however not a precise duplicate of any. Which suggests he is a superb base to make use of for a seemingly countless array of Chinese language dishes with the addition of some further flavourings.

And he’s actual. He tastes like an actual Chinese language stir fry sauce, with correct depth of flavour.

Say hello to Charlie! That’s him on the underside proper picture. Appears to be like unimpressive, doesn’t he? No trace of the facility inside! 🙂

The great thing about Charlie is that he’ll reside in your fridge for weeks, then once you want him, he’s all the time able to go. Simply give him a superb shake, pour him in your stir fry and add water. He’s already obtained cornstarch/cornflour in him so he turns into an excellent thick sauce that coats your stir fry superbly.

It’s been over a 12 months since I final shared a recipe utilizing Charlie. The rationale I considered it’s because Tremendous Meals Concepts (Australia’s #1 meals journal!) requested me to do a characteristic with a sequence of recipes utilizing Charlie. You’ll be amazed what you may make with him! Not simply stir fries – soups, sauces, noodle stir fries and even utilizing him as a marinade.

So I spent final week growing recipes for the Tremendous Meals Concepts characteristic (which comes out in early February – I’ll share extra about that when the difficulty is launched!). And I had a handful of substances leftover which is why I made a decision to share this stir fry recipe as we speak.

If you would like extra concepts for the best way to use Charlie, you may take a look at this submit – 10 Basic Chinese language Dishes, 1 Superb Sauce, the place I share 10 extra Chinese language dishes (all on one web page!) that you would be able to make utilizing Charlie.

For now, I current to you this basic Beef Stir Fry made utilizing Charlie. 🙂 BUT I’ve additionally offered the substances to make the sauce from scratch too. Take pleasure in!

Easy Classic Chinese Beef Stir Fry Recipe

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Serves: 2 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 8 minutes 8 minutes

Nutrition facts: 80 calories 20 grams fat

Rating: 5.0/5

( 1 voted )

Ingredients

• 3 tsp cornstarch / corn flour*
• 2 tbsp + 1/3 cup water , separated
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (Note 2)*
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce*
• 2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine OR Mirin (Note 3)*
• 1 tsp white sugar*
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil (optional)*
• Dash of black pepper*
• 2 tbsp peanut oil
• 1 garlic clove , crushed
• 7 oz / 200 g beef , good quality, thinly sliced (Note 4)
• 1/2 small onion , sliced (yellow, brown or white)
• 1/2 red bell pepper / capsicum , sliced
• 1 small carrot , halved lengthwise and sliced thinly on the diagonal
• 3 baby pak choy / bok choy , quartered lengthwise
• 2 stems scallion / shallots , cut into 1.5″/3cm pieces
• Steamed white rice
• Sesame seeds (optional)
• Fresh cilantro / coriander (optional)

Instructions

1. Combine the cornstarch and 2 tbsp of water in a small bowl, mix until smooth.
2. Mix in remaining Sauce ingredients EXCEPT the 1/3 cup water.
3. Place the beef and 2 tbsp of Sauce in a bowl and mix gently. Set aside for 15 minutes.
4. Add 1/3 cup water into the remaining Sauce. Set aside.
5. Heat oil in wok over high heat. Add garlic and cook for 15 seconds.
6. Add onion and cook for 1 minute.
7. Add the beef and cook until it changes colour from red to light brown but not cooked through.
8. Add bell pepper and carrots and stir fry for 30 seconds.
9. Add Sauce and cook for 30 seconds.
10. Add pak choy and scallions/shallots and cook for a further 1 minute until the Sauce is thickened.
11. Remove from heat immediately.
12. Serve immediately with rice – or for a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! Garnish with sesame seeds and cilantro, if using.

Notes

1. Shortcut – Instead of making this Sauce for this recipe, you can use 5 tablespoons of my Homemade All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce.(i.e. replace the ingredients marked with * with 5 tbsp of my All Purpose Stir Fry Sauce. Add the same quantity of water specified in this recipe and follow all other directions in this recipe.
2. Soy – Please use ordinary all purpose soy sauce for this. I use Kikkoman. Do not use light soy sauce (too salty) or dark soy sauce (too thick).
3. Chinese cooking wine is an essential ingredient for real stir fry sauces. The alcohol cooks out. However, if you cannot get it, substitute with chicken broth.
4. Beef – As with all stir fries, this cooks very quickly so you need to use a decent cut of beef for it. Rump, flank, sirloin, t-bone and scotch fillet are excellent for this recipe.
Slice the beef against the grain. When you look at the beef, you will notice that the fibres are mostly going in one direction. Place the beef in front of you so the fibres are going left to right. Then cut through the fibres i.e. cut perpendicular to the direction of the fibres (see here for illustrative image). Cutting it this way makes the beef more tender!
Slow cooking cuts, like chuck, are not suitable unless you tenderise it (see How to tenderise beef the Chinese restaurant way)