Among all of the meat dishes, I love basic stir fries the most. Once you master the basic steps of stir-frying tender meats, the combination can be magic.

The most famous combination for a successful beef stir fry can be beef with green pepper, beef with celery and beef with broccoli. The former two are extremely popular inside China while the later one is almost nowhere to find. The overall principle is to match beef with something crunchy, either plain itself or sweet or hot. After absorbing the flavors and juice of the beef slices, the side vegetable turns itself into a main star too. If you want to make your beef delicious in stir-frying dishes, I recommend marinating the beef with oyster sauce. Oyster sauce, is believed to be the best ever partner for beef.  It provides a strong savory and slightly sweet flavor, which highlight the original aroma of beef slices.

Cook’s Note

1. Since the dish is loaded with a heavy and thick sauce, you can use cheap cuts of beef. In fact, in most authentic Chinese beef stir frying dishes, we use tenderloin. Beef steak is not commonly available in China 10 years ago and it is still quite expensive now.
2. When cutting the beef, it is important to comply with the “against the grain” rule, which helps to cut off the fiber and create a tender texture.
3. I highly recommend frying the beef slices with a larger amount of oil. Then you can serve the oil for other dishes, especially for vegetables.
4. You can replace snow pea with broccoli for this recipe. The only difference is that, in order to keep the crunchy texture, broccoli should be blanched firstly before stir-frying.

Steps

Cut beef into thin slices and then marinating with marinating ingredients and cornstarch, except sesame oil. Set aside for at least 15 minutes. Mix in sesame oil just before frying.

In a small bowl, mix all of the stir fry sauce together.

Heat the pan firstly and then add oil. When the oil becomes slightly hot, spread beef slices in. Let them stay for a while and do a quick fry until they turn pale.

Transfer the beef out and leave only 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in pan. Slow down the fire, place garlic and snow peas in. Fry for half minutes until just cooked.

Add beef slices back and stir in the stir fry sauce. Quickly fry until well mixed.

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Beef with Snow Pea Stir Fry

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

25 mins

 

Chinese style beef and snow pea stir fry

Servings: 3

Calories: 300 kcal

Ingredients

Beef and marinating

• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• 150 g beef steak or tenderloin thinly sliced
• 1/2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine Shaoxing wine
• 2 tsp. corn starch
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Others

• 1/4 cup vegetable cooking oil , with around 2 tbsp. removed
• 2 garlic cloves chopped
• 150 g fresh snow peas
• pinch of salt

Stir fry sauce

• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 tsp. light soy sauce
• 1/4. tsp. sugar
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/2 tbsp. water

Instructions

1. Cut beef into thin slices and then marinating with marinating ingredients and cornstarch, except sesame oil. Set aside for at least 15 minutes. Mix in sesame oil just before frying.

2. Mix stir-frying sauce in a small bowl.

3. Heat the pan firstly and then add oil. When the oil becomes slightly hot, spread beef slices in. Let them stay for a while and do a quick fry until they turn pale.
4. Transfer the beef out and leave only 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in pan. Slow down the fire, place garlic and snow peas in. Fry for half minutes until just cooked.
5. Add beef slices back and stir in the stir fry sauce. Quickly fry until well mixed.

Nutrition Facts

Beef with Snow Pea Stir Fry

Amount Per Serving

Calories 300 Calories from Fat 243

% Daily Value*

Fat 27g42%

Saturated Fat 18g113%

Cholesterol 30mg10%

Sodium 347mg15%

Potassium 234mg7%

Carbohydrates 10g3%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 2g2%

Protein 12g24%

Vitamin A 545IU11%

Vitamin C 30.6mg37%

Calcium 29mg3%

Iron 1.9mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.