Hunan Beef – A Spicy Beef Stir Fry Popular Across the Country

Name: Hunan Beef -A Spicy Beef Stir Fry Popular Across the Country
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 20 min
Ingredients: 200 g beef tenderloin; 2 long green peppers; 3 long red peppers; 1/2 cup pickled yellow pepper; 1 cup celery; 2 garlic cloves ( , chopped); 1 thumb ginger ( , chopped); 1/4 teaspoon baking soda ( , can be used for tendering the meat, optional); small pinch of salt; 1 tablespoon light soy sauce; 3 tablespoons cooking oil; 1 tablespoon cooking wine; 1 tablespoon light soy sauce; 1 tablespoon starch; small pinch of salt; pinch of pepper; 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

May 12, 2015 36 Comments

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Hunan style beef stir fry—a dish popular across the country. This is the authentic Chinese version.

As a foodie who loves spicy food, Hunan food is one of my top choices; even sometimes Hunan style dishes are too spicy for me. Hunan cuisine usually features fresh chili and short term picked chili peppers for example this salted Hunan chili.

There are several versions inside China, mostly with essential pickled yellow pepper. We call this as 小米椒. It might be difficult to find outside China. You can try to pickle some at home or replace with other fresh chili pepper+ 1 teaspoon of vinegar (used in the stir fry sauce). This little pickled yellow pepper enjoys a really high popularity in China in different cuisines (mainly in Hunan and Sichuan cuisine). It presents a unique sour flavor bought by the fermentation. If you love to make some at home, check this post.

And celery can be replace with coriander. But I highly recommend using celery in this recipe as long as you do not hate it. And it is very important to note that even you need to make a larger batch, do you stir fry too many beef once!! The large amount of beef will immediately make the temperature lower down greatly and thus creating unqualified wok temperature. To keep the beef tender, you need to use highest fire and limit the time. I do not photo the stir fry steps because I am alone at home and cannot wait for around 10 seconds to take pictures.

5 from 3 votes

Hunan Beef -A Spicy Beef Stir Fry Popular Across the Country

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Total Time

20 mins

Hunan style beef stir fry--a classic and popular Chinese beef stir fry recipe

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: Beef, stir fry

Servings: 2

Calories: 555 kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

200 g beef tenderloin
2 long green peppers
3 long red peppers
1/2 cup pickled yellow pepper
1 cup celery
2 garlic cloves , chopped
1 thumb ginger , chopped
1/4 teaspoon baking soda , can be used for tendering the meat, optional
small pinch of salt
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
3 tablespoons cooking oil

Marinating sauce

1 tablespoon cooking wine
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon starch
small pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

Instructions

Cut beef into thin slices (as thin as possible). If you are not skilled at cutting, frozen the beef for around 10 or 15 minutes before cutting.
Transfer beef into a large bowl and then add cooking wine, light soy sauce, starch, salt and pepper. Mix generally and them add sesame oil. Combine everything well. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Prepare all the side ingredients, cut peppers, celery, garlic and ginger.
Heat up cooking oil in wok until really hot and then fry the beef slices for around 30 seconds. Transfer out.
Return the extra oil to wok, fry garlic, ginger and all the peppers until aroma. Add celery and sprinkle a pinch of salt too. Return beef, add light soy sauce and give a quick fry. Transfer and serve with steamed rice immediately.