My hat off to the BBC chef Ching He Huang and her simple but flavoursome Beef in Oyster Sauce recipe.

This dish caught my eye because it calls for tenderising, with a mallet or rolling pin, beef eye fillet (tenderlion) steaks. I can see you shaking your head but trust me it is a transformational part of the recipe. The meat literally melts in your mouth!

Ching’s “… approach is to demystify the notion that Chinese cooking is complicated and time consuming by demonstrating traditional recipes that can be easily adapted for the home cook…”.

Mission accomplished!

You will be

1. Bashing and flash seasoning the beef.
2. Stir frying the vegetables
3. Stir frying the beef
4. Serving

You will need

• Ingredients (as the only main it served 2 adults and a hungry toddler very well):
  • 350g beef eye fillet steaks
  • 1 tsp light soy sauce
  • 1.5 Tbsp oyster sauce
  • a pinch of raw sugar
  • ground rock salt and ground black peppercorns
  • 2 slugs of peanut oil
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely diced
  • 300g baby spinach leaves
  • 1 carrot, chopped into matchsticks
  • a handful of snow peas, sliced or whole
  • 1 Tbsp dry Sherry
  • 1 cup of your favourite rice (mine is basmati)
•   Equipment
  • a chopping board
  • a long sharp knife
  • several sheets of baking paper
  • a bowl for marinading the meat
  • a tenderising mallet or a rolling pin
  • a wok or deep fry pan
  • a serving dish

Steps:

Bashing and flash seasoning the beef

1.  Place the eye fillet steaks in between two sheets of baking paper and bash the stuffing out of it with a rolling pin or tenderising mallet. I know right :).
2. Thinly slice the bashed beef and place into a bowl.
3. Season with the:
   • 1 tsp light soy sauce
   • 1.5 Tbsp oyster sauce
   • a pinch of raw sugar
   • ground rock salt and black peppercorns to taste.

Stir frying your vegetables

1. Chop and slice all of the vegetables.
2. Add a slug of peanut oil to the frypan and get it nice and hot.
3. Add the 3 cloves garlic (finely diced) and chopped chili to taste if you like it hot.
4. Add the 1 carrot (sliced into sticks).
5. Add the handful of snow peas.
6. Keep everything moving all the time and then when you think it is time chuck in the 300g baby spinach leaves.
7. As soon as the spinach leaves wilt and become warm put the whole lot into a serving dish. I sometimes cover them to keep everything piping hot.

Stir frying the beef

1. Add another slug of peanut oil to the frypan and get it nice and hot again.
2. Add the now seasoned beef slices and stir fry for a few minutes at most, remember that they will continue to cook after you take them out of the pan. We don’t want them to be chewy.
3. Pour the 1 Tbsp dry Sherry over the meat and quickly toss everything.
4. Add the now cooked beef to the cooked vegetables waiting in the serving dish.

Serving

Serve from a central dish and let everyone take what they need. Make sure there is plenty of rice and good conversation. 🙂

Thanks again to Ching,

PK

Here are some more Chinese and asian fusion posts: