Chinese beef with honey and black pepper sauce

Chinese Beef with Honey and Black Pepper Sauce

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

5 mins

Total Time

15 mins

Copycat of restaurant style Chinese Beef with Honey and Black Pepper Sauce. Very fast and easy to make - it's on the table in 15 minutes! The sauce is absolutely divine - sticky, sweet, salty and with a subtle burst of heat from the black pepper.

Course: Stir Fry

Cuisine: Chinese

Servings: 3 -4

Calories: 350 kcal

Ingredients

Sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
1 1/2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry(or substitute with chicken or beef stock)
2 tbsp water
1 tsp roughly crushed black pepper (or 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper)

Stir Fry

1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil (or vegetable or canola oil)
1 garlic clove , crushed
1 small onion , sliced (or 1/2 large onion)
1 lb / 500 g thinly sliced flank , rump, sirloin, fillet or any other cut of steak suitable for stir frying (Notes 1 & 2)

Instructions

Whisk together the Sauce ingredients then set aside.

Heat the oil in a wok or large heavy based skillet over high heat until it is smoking.

Add the onion and garlic and cook for 1 minute or until the onion becomes translucent. Keep it moving so the garlic doesn't burn.

Add the beef and stir fry for 40 seconds to 1 minute until just cooked to your liking (depending on the size of the pieces, how heavy based your wok is, strength of stove). Remove beef and onion onto a plate.

Turn the heat down to medium high. Pour the Sauce ingredients into the wok. It will start simmering very quickly. Let it cook for 1 minute or so until it becomes syrupy - the bubbles will be larger and caramel colour.

Add the beef and onion back into the wok, along with any juices pooled on the plate. Toss in the sauce until just warmed through - 1 minute at most. Don't overcook the beef - that would be tragic!

Serve immediately with rice.

Recipe Notes

1. This recipe is not suitable for cuts like chuck, brisket, ribs or other slow cooking beef cuts.

2. Cut against the grain - When you look at the beef, you will see that the fibres are mostly going in the same direction. When slicing the beef, cut "against the grain" which means cutting the beef 90 degrees to the direction of the fibres. This will produce the most tender beef.

3. Tenderising the beef: Because the beef is flash fried separately from the sauce, this ensures the beef stays tender and juicy. However, if you would like to use the technique used by restaurants to "velvet" (tenderise) the beef, then combine the slices of beef with 1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb soda), 2 tbsp water, 1 tbsp soys sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbsp oil. Marinade for 30 minutes, then use as per this recipe. I rarely tenderise the beef for this recipe.