I love oyster sauce, black bean sauce and all those other stir fry sauces that you can buy ready made. The only problem I find with buying these sauces is I always use it once or twice then forget about it and it goes to waste. This stir fry uses regular pantry ingredients to achieve that Chinese take-out taste. Most of them are cost effective and are not “speciality” ingredients which I love. Bonus points go to me because hungrybae loved this dish and ate ALL the veggies. You can also substitute any of the veg ingredients to suit what you have on hand. Grocery shopping for who?!
Ingredients:
- 300g steak, cut into strips (serves 2)
- Sesame oil
- 1 red chilli, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
- 60ml soya sauce
- 1 Tb rice vinegar
- 1 Tb brown vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger*
- 1/2 tsp black pepper*
- 2 tsp corn flour
- 3/4 cup water
Veggies and other bits: Use any combination
Mushrooms, brown onion, red pepper, green pepper, mange tout, broccoli, spring onion, sesame seeds.
Method:
- Fry the garlic, red chili and strips of steak in a large wok or frying pan on high heat, with a little bit of oil and sesame oil.
- One the steak is brown add the soya sauce, vinegars, sugar, spices (see tips)*
- Make a slurry with the corn flour and water and mix into the pan.
- The sauce should go from cloudy to clear and that’s when you know the cornflour has cooked. Cook until your desired consistency. The longer you cook it for the thicker the sauce will get.
- Add your veggies and toss through the sauce, cook for a few minutes only to retain the crunchiness.
- Serve with jasmine rice or bimri rice and garnish with lots of spring onion and sesame seeds.
Tips:
You can use fresh ginger instead of ground, use a generous amount and cut the pieces into julienne strips. If you want a hotter more spicier sauce double the black pepper but make sure it is a level teaspoon! I’m not sure if I should recommend doing this as I think it will be too strong, but just for you to know that this isn’t necessarily a spicy dish. The flavors are very subtle but you can taste them distinctly. Hungrybae loves his chili (I mean really loves it) and I asked him if he wanted to add more and he said no. So there you have it folks, adapt as much as you like to suit your own taste!
This recipe makes enough for two with some leftover for lunch.
