Easy beef stir fried with a under rated Sha Cha Sauce (沙茶牛肉).
What's Sha Cha Sauce
Sha cha sauce (沙茶酱) is a combined sauce from ChaoZhou area in Guangdong, China. With a savory and a slightly spicy taste, it has been widely used in Fujian cusine, Teochew cuisine and Taiwan area.
My first meating with Sha Cha sauce is on a Teochew beef hot pot table. I love the taste of sha cha sauce with tender beef slices. After tried with different restaurants, I find that they have their unique Sha Cha sauce recipes and flavors. In general, Sha Cha sauce is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilies, brill fish and dried shrimp. But different portions create slightly different flavors. I believe Szechuan style chili oil shares the same features. Returning home, I am always trying to find the best Sha cha product. Among all the brands, Bull head from Taiwan wins my heart and has been stored in my kitchen cabinet around the year.
The common serving way of sha cha beef is to serve with blanched vegetables, usually Yu Choy (油菜心) or Chinese broccoli (芥蓝). Although simply blanched with salt and vegetable oil, they can be turned as the best part of the dish. On one hand, all of the remaining sauce dropping from the meat can make tastes of those vegetable very naughty. On the other hand, they can make the dish more balanced in nutrition. But you need to peel off tough skins on the stem in order to achieve a tender and crunchy texture.
Cook's Note about making tender beef stir fry
- cut the beef slice as thin as possibly if you are using cheap cuts.
- Well marinate beef slices to make the inside juicy and form a well protecting shell outside.
- Cook a small batch each time and make sure all of the beef slices are cooked within a short period.
- Prepare your steamed rice previously or you can use plain cooked noodles, or steamed buns. The beef should be served immediately once done.
Ingredients
- 150g beef steak, thinly sliced
- 1 small bunch of Yu Choy or Chinese broccoli
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
- ¼ tsp. ground pepper
- ¼ tsp. sugar
- ½ tbsp. Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine)
- 2 tbsp. water or stock
- 3 tsp. corn starch
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
- vegetable cooking oil, as needed
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp. sha cha sauce
Steps
Cut the beef into slices. Marinate with all the marinating seasonings for 15 minutes.
Then mix cornstarch and sesame oil, just before start frying.
Blanch the vegetables | bring a large pot of water to a boiling and then add a small pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook for 10-15 seconds until the vegetables are almost cooked. Do not kill the vegetable.
Add cooking oil in a large pan until the oil can evenly cover the bottom of the pan. spread the beef slices in. Let them stay for around 3-5 seconds and gently stir them several times until the color changes. Transfer the beef out immediately once the surface colors changes and leave around 1 tablespoon of the oil in. Save the extra oil for vegetable stir frying.
Fry garlic and sha cha sauce for around 30 seconds until aromatic. Add beef and mix well.
Transfer the beef slices to the serving plate with blanched vegetables.
Beef with Sha Cha Sauce
Ingredients
- 150 g beef steak thinly sliced
- 1 small bunch of Yu Choy or Chinese broccoli
Marinating
- ½ tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
- ¼ tsp. ground pepper
- ¼ tsp. sugar
- ½ tbsp. Chinese cooking wine ,Shaoxing wine
- 2 tbsp. water or stock
- 3 tsp. corn starch
- 1 tsp. sesame oil
Stir-frying
- vegetable cooking oil ,as needed
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp. sha cha sauce
Instructions
- Cut the beef into slices. Marinate with all the marinating seasonings for 15 minutes.
- Blanch the vegetables | bring a large pot of water to a boiling and then add a small pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook for 10-15 seconds until the vegetables are almost cooked. Do not kill the vegetable.
- Add cooking oil in a large pan until the oil can evenly cover the bottom of the pan. spread the beef slices in. Let them stay for around 3-5 seconds and gently stir them several times until the color changes. Transfer the beef out immediately once the surface colors changes and leave around 1 tablespoon of the oil in. Save the extra oil for vegetable stir frying.
- Fry garlic and sha cha sauce for around 30 seconds until aromatic. Add beef and mix well.
- Transfer the beef slices to the serving plate with blanched vegetables.
Nutrition
Serve with steamed rice.
Lucky Zheng
Wow! That looks delicious. I’ve not tried beef with sha cha sauce before. We'll have to try making it this week.
Sue
I used to try sha cha sauce when eating beef hot pot with friend in Hong Kong. So nice and tasty!
Elaine Luo
Hi sue,
I know sha cha sauce from beef hot pot too. I love the taste.
Don McCoy
I have not eat today. The beef recipe must be so delicious. I am craving it and must try it soon. Been long time since I eat very flavorful juicy meaty food.
Hannah
Hi- Im struggling to find "Sha Cha Sauce" as an ingredient - NZ can be a bit limited with these things! We do get Lee Kum Lee products but no one seems to have that particular one! After googling it, I'm a bit confused as to whether its a spicy Satay sauce or a BBQ type sauce, its coming up with it to be both? If you could please give me an idea of an alternative product, I would appreciate it!
Elaine Luo
Hi Hannah,
Lee Kum lee does have sha cha sauce. I can find the sauce in market. If it is not available in your local stores, you can buy some from amazon. For the taste, it is similar to spicy satay sauce. But some of the ingredients has been changed after entering Chinese sea areas. There are two beef dishes: satay beef and sha cha beef in China. They taste slightly different.
Kate
Well this is probably a useless comment given I'm here in 2022 and you left your comment in 2014, but Sha Cha sauce is often called Bullhead BBQ sauce. I believe Sha Cha is an anglicized approximation of the Chinese name.
Vanessa
This recipe needs to be rewritten. The instructions refer to items that aren't even in the listed ingredients. How much water should I add to the sha cha sauce? Why is chili oil listed when it's not even mentioned in the instructions? And while you refer to marinating in the michiu or shaoxing wine in the story section, you do not mention the cooking wine at all in the recipe.
linda
what's in "the marinating seasonings"?
Elaine
Sorry, forgot to group them. Already updated!
Jackson
How many servings does this recipe make? And what is the portion size of each serving? Thanks!
Elaine
Jackson,
Already updated the recipe!
Denny
I’ll give it a try soon. Thank you for your inspiration.
Yvette Lee
Been looking for this over 20 years! I always wondered what the tea sauce was from a New York Sichuan restaurant I used to go to! TY for this!!
Elaine
Sha Cha sauce is really worth trying.