I don’t know what to call this dish and will settle for the name Spicy Beef. It is going to be rather lengthy if I would call it based on what I did to the beef. I had the inspiration to cook this based on what I had in Golden Mansion Restaurant in Melaka, Malaysia. What I ate in the said restaurant was essentially tender pieces of beef lightly boiled in steamboat. It tastes really good and I was figuring out what went into the marinade. With some suspicion here and there, I reckoned that it involved the use of preserved bean curd and sesame oil. Since I don’t have steamboat feasts at home on a regular basis, I decided to give it a stir-fry instead.

The stir-fry turned out really nice and “exotic”. It has a slightly spicy taste to it due to the use of the preserved bean curd. The preserved bean curd and fragrance of sesame oil matched well with the natural taste of the tender slices of beef. I would say that it tastes quite unusual from the common beef stir fries. Then again, it depends on one’s preference for preserved bean curd (which are sold in small bottles). I used the spicy preserved bean curd which is different from the red preserved bean curd (which has deep-red coloured preserve). If you are adventurous enough and can get your hands on these ingredients, give this dish a try. After all, cooking time is around 3 minutes or less only.

This is my recipe for Spicy Beef

Ingredients

• 150 grammes of tender beef (ask the butcher for the most tender parts which are suitable for stir-frying, slice them thinly)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped finely)
• some spring onions (cut into 3 inch lengths)
• 2 tablespoons of cooking oil (palm oil preferred)
• 1 cup of warm water

Marinade

• 1 large egg
• 2 pieces of preserved bean curd with a teaspoon of the preserve
• 2 teaspoons of sesame oil

Method

Marinade beef overnight with preserved bean curd and sesame oil. 10 minutes before cooking, break egg into marinated beef and mix well.

Heat oil in wok on high heat and saute garlic till aromatic. Just as garlic is turning brown, add the marinated beef and spring onions. Stir fry very quickly and sprinkle some warm water to keep moist.

Just as beef has all evenly turned colour on the outer side, dish up and serve. Cooking too long might toughen the meat.

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Spicy Beef

Capsicum, also known as Bell Pepper, is a good companion for beef in stir-fries. So far, I’ve seen and tried three colours available – green, red and yellow, the latter being the sweetest. With capsicum, you can’t really leave out its other good friend, the onion. A stir-fry with these two ingredients give a good fusion of smell (you’ll either like it or don’t) and taste (sweet in nature).

When I eat beef, I usually like them just or slightly undercooked. Over cooking beef with generally make it tough and chewy unless you stew them for long hours, which is another thing altogether. Hence, when I stir-fried this dish, I left the beef for last. Total stir-frying time is about 3 minutes as I prefer the capsicum to remain crunchy. Cook longer if you prefer softer capsicum. Most of all, experiment with this dish to your liking.

This is my recipe for Stir-Fried Tender Beef with Capsicum

Ingredients

• 100 grammes of beef fillet (or any tender part, sliced thinly across grain)
• 1 small capsicum (julienned)
• 1 medium sized onion (cut into half and sliced)
• 1/4 piece of carrot (sliced)
• 50 ml or more warm water
• Corn starch (mix 2 teaspoons corn flour with about 100 ml water)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Marinade (for beef)

• 2 1/2 teaspoons light soya sauce
• a couple of dashes of black pepper powder
• 2 teaspoons of corn flour

Seasoning

• 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• a pinch of salt (optional)

Method

Marinade beef for 2 hours or more.

Heat oil in wok. Add onions and carrots. Stir fry till onions begin to turn translucent. Add capsicum and stir fry for 30 seconds.

Add beef and continue stir frying till beef is about 50% cooked (half red half dark in colour). Add seasoning to taste and sprinkle some water to keep moist. Pour in some corn starch to thicken gravy or omit it if it is dry to your liking.

Dish out and serve hot with plain white rice.

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Stir-Fried Tender Beef with Capsicum

This is my very first foray into stir frying beef. After taking inspiration from Simcooks, I proceeded to the supermarket, bought myself some beef flank slices, spring onions and ginger and did this. As I did not memorise her recipe, I more or less guessed the seasoning involved. There was an added bit of anxiety as we had two friends over for dinner and I was going to serve them something I am cooking for the first time. Glad they liked it

Some of the beef flank slices were a bit chewy – must be the ligaments or tendon or what-not. If you see some whitish looking “rubber” in the meat, just slice it off

This is my recipe for Stir Fried Beef with Ginger and Spring Onions

Ingredients

• 350 grammes of beef flank or tender slices
• 8 slices of old ginger (have more if you are using young ginger)
• 5 cloves of garlic (chopped)
• 3 stalks spring onions (cut to 6 cm lengths)
• 30 ml warm water
• Corn starch (add 1 tablespoon corn flour to 3 tablespoons of water and mix well)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Cooking oil (palm oil)

Seasoning

• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
• Salt to taste
• a dash of white pepper powder
• a dash of black pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon chinese cooking wine

Method

Heat oil in wok and fry ginger till aromatic. Add garlic and continue to saute till beginning to brown. Add beef and spring onions and stir fry whilst adding seasoning. Stir fry till beef changes colour like above. Finally, add about 2 tablespoons of corn starch and stir well prior to serving.

If you find it too dry, add water gradually. If you added too much water, add a bit of corn starch to thicken the gravy.

Serve warm preferably with white rice

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Stir Fried Beef with Ginger and Spring Onions