Fried Beef in Black Pepper Sauce

How to make easy and delicious Black Pepper Beef stir fry.

I love black pepper! It's one of my favourite ingredients ever. I make a lot of black pepper dishes, and this is my ultimate favourite black pepper sauce recipe – it uses minimal ingredients, but so so rich and addictive so let's go.

How to Get Tender Slices of Beef

I used flank steak, which is the typical cut of beef used for stir fries. I would use a cheaper cut of beef – save your sirloins and rib-eyes for a good ol' fashioned steak dinners.

Cheaper cuts like flank and chuck has a tendency to be tough. To make them tender, I follow three simple rules:

1. Cut against the grain.

2. Cut at an angle – 45 degree angle, if you want to be specific about it.

3. Slice the beef thinly.

Another tenderising technique I use is in using baking soda to break down the muscles. Sprinkle on about 1/2 a teaspoon (be very stingy with it) on the beef, and let that sit for about 20 minutes. Then rinse the beef to wash out the baking soda and voila, tender beef. A couple of cons with this step though. Baking soda is an alkaline, which means if not careful, you will end up with beef with a bitter after taste. This is why you use very little baking soda, and it should not sit for too long. The baking soda should also be rinsed out. If not done proper, the beef might not tenderize to your liking. Results are too unpredictable with this method, which is why I stick to the cutting technique.

The Sauce Bowl

This sauce recipe is, in my opinion, the best because it hits so many flavours with the least amount of ingredients. I made a black pepper chicken stir fry recipe before which was more Chinese style. I honed the recipe even further to come up with this. The main ingredients for the sauce base are:

1. Dark Sweet Soy Sauce or Kicap Manis: This not only adds salt and sugar, it gives the dish an attractive dark colour. You can also use the Chinese Dark Soy Sauce, but do remember to add sugar to make up for the lack of sugar. I would add brown sugar or coconut sugar to mimic the molasse-y sweet taste of the kicap manis.

2. Tomato Paste Concentrate: In my original recipe, I used tomato ketchup. In this one I used tomato paste concentrate which is more rich in taste. It also has no sugar, compared to the tomato ketchup, so I would think it's the healthier choice.

3. Oyster Sauce: The oyster sauce is the only constant for both recipes. It adds salt, and that extra hint of umami to the dish.

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Black Pepper Beef Stir Fry

Course: Recipes

Ingredients

• 300g Beef

• 1 tsp Light Soy Sauce

• 1 tsp Cornstarch

• 1/2 inch Ginger

• 1/2 Onion

• 2 Cloves Garlic

• 1 Capsicum

• Cornstarch Slurry of 1 tsp Cornstarch + 2-3 tbsps Water

• Black Pepper Sauce

• 1/4 cup Dark Sweet Soy Sauce / Kicap Manis*

• 1 tbsp Tomato Paste**

• 1 tbsp Oyster Sauce

• 1 tbsp Black Pepper***

• 1/2 cup Water

Directions

• Slice the beef thinly, and marinade with light soy sauce and cornstarch. Leave to marinade for a while, about 15 minutes or while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
• Prepare the black pepper sauce bowl.
• In a pan, add oil. Once hot, add the beef slices and let it sear and cook.
• Add ginger, onions and garlic. Stir fry till fragrant.
• Toss in capsicums and the black pepper sauce bowl.
• Stir fry and let the sauce bubble.
• Once sauce bubbles, add cornstarch slurry. Done once the sauce thickens.

Notes

• *If using Chinese Dark Soy Sauce, add 1 tsp of sugar.
• ** If using Tomato Ketchup, use 2 tbsps.
• *** Adjust black pepper levels according to preference and tolerance.

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Source: http://nomadette.com/black-pepper-beef-stir-fry/

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