Sizzling beef

This is a recipe for “sizzling beef” from Kylie Kwong’s recipe book published in the Lantern Cookery Classics series. Kylie’s recipe is “a much more refined version” of the traditional Australian-Chinese dish of sizzling beef on a hot metal plate in a thick barbecue-marinade sauce.

I modified the recipe  by adding stir-friend beans and carrots to make a complete meal for serving with steamed rice.

Ingredients

• 400 g top quality beef fillet cut into 1.5 cm thick slices
• 2 small white onions peeled, chopped in half
• 2 tablespoons peanut oil
• 6 cm piece of ginger, very finely sliced
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tablespoon shaohsing wine or dry sherry
• 1 teaspoon kecap manis (a sweet Indonesian soy sauce)
• 1.5 tablespoons mushroom soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
• pinch Sichuan Pepper and Salt (instructions on how to make this later in this article)
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• Carrots, beans cut thinly

Marinade

• 2 tablespoons shaohsing wine
• 2 tablespoons Chinese barbecue sauce (Char Siu)
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon mushroom soy sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil

Method

Combine all the marinade ingredients in a bowl, then add beef and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

Cut onions in half, then cut into 2 cm wedges. Pull the wedges apart to separate the layers.

Heat peanut oil in wok and stir fry the carrots and beans till slightly soft. Put these aside for later.

Heat more peanut oil in wok until the surface seems to shimmer slightly. Add onion, ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add beef to work, along with the marinade and sear on one side for about one minutes, or until lightly browned. Turn beef over and sear other side for  further minute. Add shaohsing, kecap manis, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and sesame oil and stir fry for one minute. Add the vegetables that were previously cooked, stir fry for another minute.

Arrange beef on a platter (or bowl), sprinkle with soy sauce and Sichuan pepper and salt. Serve immediately with a small bowl of lemon juice on the side. Alternatively serve lemon wedges.

Stir friend carrots and beans

Szechuan Pepper

Kylie Kwong writes “I love using this to pep up stir-fries, salads and braises – it adds just the right amount of warmth and saltiness with a light citrus note”

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons salt flakes (I used just 1.5 tablespoons salt)

Dry roast the peppercorns and salt in a heavy based saucepan or wok. When the peppercorns begin t pop and become aromatic, immediately remove them from the heat.

Allow to cool then grind to a powder in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder. Store in an airtight container.

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