Beijing Beef

A copy of the Panda Express dish. Just like take-out, but at home! This comes from the young gentleman Ian Kyo on social medias.

Ingredients

Meat marinade

• 1 Lbs Eye of round
• 1 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
• ½ tsp Baking soda
• ½ C Corn starch
• White pepper (to taste)
• Salt (to taste)
• 3 Tbsp Water

Sauce

• 2 Tbsp Soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp Hoisin sauce
• 2 Tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 Tbsp Ketchup
• 1½ Tbsp Brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp Sweet chili sauce
• 1 Tbsp Sriracha
• 2 Tbsp Rice wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Cornstarch slurry (equal parts cornstarch and water)

Vegetables

• ½ White onion
• 1 Red bell pepper
• 4 Garlic cloves

Steps

1. Slice the beef into thin slices. Slice against the grain to ensure a more tender end result.
2. In a bowl mix together the other ingredients for the marinade, and toss with the sliced beef.
3. Let the beef marinate for about 30 minutes. Do not let it marinate for more than an hour, the baking soda is tenderizing the beef and letting it sit for too long can result in a bad texture.
4. While the meat is marinading mix all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
5. Roughly chop the vegetables, set aside.
6. Once the meat has marinaded shallow fry the meat in a wok or large pan for 1-2 minutes or nicely browned, working in batches to avoid over crowding.
7. Once all of the meat is fried, remove the excess oil and stir fry the vegetables until fragrant.
8. Pour in the sauce mixture and let simmer under slightly reduced and thickened.
9. Add in the beef and toss to coat in sauce.
10. Optionally top with sesame seeds and serve over rice.

Notes

• Marinading meat in a baking soda mixture is called velveting. It helps to tenderize the meat. This combined with cutting across the grain means we can use a very tough and lean cut of meat, quickly fry it, and not have to chew on each peice for hours.