This is how you make perfect homemade Chinese-style beef in black bean sauce. Use my homemade black bean sauce recipe, or store-bought, and you'll have a delicious stir fry, full of umami flavour.
Prep Time20 minutesmins
Cook Time15 minutesmins
soaking time1 hourhr
Total Time1 hourhr35 minutesmins
Course: Dinner
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: Beef Stir Fry, fermented black beans, steak
Start by soaking the fermented black beans. Place in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for one hour.
4 tbsp fermented black beans
Velveting the beef:
Now velvet the beef. Place the beef in a bowl and sprinkle over the bicarbonate of soda.
400 g (14 oz) beef steak, 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
Rub the bicarbonate of soda into the beef so it’s thoroughly coated.
Cover and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Thoroughly rinse the beef in cold water, drain, then pat dry with kitchen towels. Place in a bowl, ready to use in your stir fry.
Making the black bean sauce:
Once the beans have soaked for an hour, drain and thoroughly rinse them.
Place the drained black beans in a bowl and give them a bit of a mash with the back of a fork. I like to mash up about three-quarters and leave the rest whole.
Add the sesame and rapeseed oil to a small saucepan. Heat over a medium heat.
1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
Add the garlic, ginger, and black beans and fry for one minute, stirring often, until fragrant.
3 cloves minced garlic, 1 tbsp minced ginger
Add the rice wine, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, pepper, and stock.
2 tbsp Shaoxing Chinese rice wine, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp rice vinegar, 2 tbsp granulated or caster sugar, ½ tsp ground black pepper, 180 ml (3/4 cup) chicken or vegetable stock
Stir together, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly reduced.
Stir in half the cornflour slurry to thicken the sauce. Add more if you'd like the sauce thicker, then turn off the heat.
1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch in USA)
Bringing it all together:
Toss the tenderised beef in the salt and pepper.
pinch salt, ½ tsp black pepper
Heat the two oils oil in a wok over a high heat.
1 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp rapeseed/avocado or other neutral oil
Add the beef and fry, stirring often, for 2-3 minutes, until the beef is just cooked.
Add the onion, red, and green peppers and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until slightly softened.
1 onion, 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper
Add the black bean sauce, fry, stirring often, for 1-2 minutes, until the sauce is heated through.
Serve:
Serve over boiled rice, topped with spring onions, and sesame seeds.
boiled rice, sliced spring onions, mixed sesame seeds
Video
Notes
Don't want to make your own black bean sauce?Replace the black bean sauce in this recipe with 250ml store-bought black bean sauce. *Flavour tip* - Check the ingredients on the side of the bottle, if it doesn't contain garlic and ginger, add 3 minced cloves of garlic and 1 tablespoon of minced ginger into the stir fry at the the same time as the onions and peppers. Don't want to velvet the beef?The velveting process is needed for cheaper, more tough cuts of meat, to make them more tender. If you don't want to velvet the beef, but you still want tender, juicy meat, you'll need to go with a more expensive cut of steak - such as ribeye or sirloin. Slice the steak into thin strips, against the grain, before using.Nutritional information is approximate, per serving (this recipe serves 4) - NOT INCLUDING the rice.