A dish that is a little sweet, yet mildly peppery and salty with an incredible depth of flavour. You will love this 15 minute honey pepper beef stir fry that brings the taste of a Chinese restaurant to your home.
After a week of perfecting my Butter, Anchovy and tomato pasta along with my Spicy Spanish Fish, I was really in the mood for some Chinese food. I wanted something with a little heat, yet some sweetness as well. This lead to the idea for this honey pepper beef stir fry!
The recipe itself is a bit of a hybrid between a black pepper beef stir fry and a beef and peppers stir fry. What is the difference? A black pepper beef stir contains a larger amount of black pepper and often does not contain capsicum (peppers in the USA). A beef and peppers stir fry has a more mild (less peppery) sauce but contains peppers (capsicums).
This is a little bit of a mix between the two but with some added honey for sweetness along with some other elements that I will discuss shortly that give this different levels of flavour!
With just 10 minutes preparation and 5 minutes cooking time, this is quicker than getting takeaway and it makes up enough for four!
Tips!
- Beef- Make sure that you use a decent cut of beef for this recipe as you will be cooking it very quickly. Any cut that you would eat for a steak is fine. You will also want to cut thinly across the grain if possible.
- Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine). Perhaps the most important secret ingredient that really gives it that restaurant taste. This is commonly used at Chinese restaurants and you can learn more about it here. It lasts for a while and can be added to most Chinese recipes to enhance the flavour profile. If you prefer not to use alcohol, you can substitute for 2 tablespoons of beef/chicken stock and ½ tablespoon of white wine/rice wine vinegar.
- Oyster sauce- You don’t have to love Oysters to use oyster sauce. It is another one of the secret ingredients to a lot of Chinese cooking due to the Unami and depth of flavour it gives
- The other sauce ingredients are pantry staples and can be found in the recipe card!
- The sauce should be thick and is designed so you do not need cornflour. As such, you will find it to have quite a strong flavour that coats the beef perfectly!
Watch the video below to see how it is made!
What should I serve with this?
It is a must to serve this one with a side of rice! You could also have this with dumplings or spring rolls as a starter. This is also a great dish to add to a Chinese style banquet spread.
Honey Pepper Beef Stir Fry
A dish that is a little sweet, yet mildly peppery and salty with an incredible depth of flavour. You will love this 15 minute honey pepper stir-fried beef that brings the taste of a Chinese restaurant to your home.
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp soy sauce (see notes)
- 2 tablespoons of oyster sauce (see notes)
- 3 tablespoons of honey
- 2 tablespoons of Chinese cooking wine (see notes)
- 1 teaspoon of crushed black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (or neutral oil)
- ½ white onion sliced into strips
- 1 red capsicum, de-seeded and chopped into strips
- 2 cloves of garlic minced or chopped
- 500 grams of beef for stir fry, chopped into strips (see notes)
Instructions
1. Mix the sauce ingredients together in a bowl
2. Heat the oil in pan or wok over high heat until hot.
3. Add the onion capsicum and cook for one minute. Add the garlic and the beef and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring to ensure it is cooked. Remove and place onto a plate.
4. Add the sauce to the pan and cook for one minute. It should start to thicken and bubble.
5.Add the beef mixture and any juices to the pan and mix through. Cook for no more than a minute.
6. Serve immediately with rice. This can be garnished with chopped spring onions if desired to add some colour.
Notes
- Although some of this was mentioned above, I will add these details for those that went straight to the recipe!
- Chinese cooking wine- This could be the number 1 secret ingredient for Chinese restaurants. It is available in Australian supermarkets but you could sub for sake or mirin. As you are only using 2 tables at less than 20% alcohol, the amount per serving will be very small.
- If you are unable to drink alcohol or don’t wish to, you could substitute it for 2 tablespoons of chicken/beef stock and ½ tablespoon of white wine/rice wine vinegar.
- Soy sauce- Please use only ordinary or light. Dark soy sauce will be too strong for this recipe.
- Beef- You can use any type of beef that you would cook as a steak. Slice it thinly and across the grain!
- Oyster sauce- Another secret ingredient found in a number of Chinese restaurant dishes. This dish will not taste like oysters but it will give it a greater depth of flavour than using just soy sauce and is highly recommended. If you cannot use this, you could try to sub for soy sauce or hoisin sauce but it may turn out different!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 714Total Fat: 45gSaturated Fat: 14gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 26gCholesterol: 157mgSodium: 1447mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 3gSugar: 18gProtein: 51g
Although A Taste Of Abroad aims to provide accurate nutrition information, the figures are created by an online calculator and should be used as an estimate only.
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