Step 1

Slice the beef thinly. Any tender cuts like sirloin steak, ribeye will be good for this recipe. But, I want to let you know that this is actually a cheap cut - beef chuck roast. I am going to show you the correct marinade and the cooking method. It will also come out tender and juicy like a restaurant quality meal.

Step 2

Marinade it with 2 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tsp of grated garlic, 1 tsp of grated ginger, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/2 tsp of baking soda. It might sound strange but this is the secrets that Chinese restaurants use to create that soft velvety tender meat. And most cake you eat has baking soda in it so don’t worry about the safety issue. Last but not least, we gonna add 1 tsp of cornstarch. Mix everything until well combined. Cover it and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

Step 3

While waiting, we can crush and dice 10 cloves of garlic. Yes, that is a lot of garlic, which is why this dish is delicious.

Step 4

Next ingredient is the key to this recipe. We call it 豆豉Douchi also known as black soybeans or Chinese black beans. It is a type of fermented and salted soybean. The smell is sharp and pungent which provides a lot of umami flavor for this recipe. Most Oriental store will carry it. You can also buy it on Amazon.I will put the link in the description. Roughly diced them. Put them next to the garlic as well.

Step 5

Besides that, I also prepared some vegetables: half of a green bell pepper, 1/2 of a red bell pepper, some carrot slices and onion slices. You can use other kinds of vegetables. The reason I picked these is that they are colorful which makes the dish look nicer.

Step 6

Next, we gonna quickly make a sauce. You will need 1 tbsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, some white pepper to taste, 1 cup of beef stock. Give it a quick stir and that’s it. Let’s start cooking.

Step 7

Heat up your wok until you see it is slightly smoking. Add some cooking oil, about 2.5 tbsp. Give it a swirl so the oil covers the bottom. Add the beef, try to spread the beef so most of the pieces are touching the bottom of the wok. Wait until the meat is lightly seared on one side and then roughly stir them over. Keep cooking on the other side. Continue doing this until you get some nice chart on the edge of the meat. Take the meat out. Try to tilt your wok so if there is any excess grease, it will be left in the wok.

Step 8

I got about 2 tsp of oil left in there and the bottom has lots of crispy bits. Don’t wash the wok because those are good stuff. Add a little more oil to the wok and saute the garlic and black beans at low heat.

Step 9

Once they are fragrant, you can add all the vegetables. Stir them until the veggies is a bit soft. Then pour in the sauce. Now it is a good time the deglaze all the good stuff from the bottom of the wok. Once the sauce is bubbling, you can give it a taste to see if you need to adjust the flavor or not. Mine was perfect. Pour in some cornstarch water (2 tsp of cornstarch + 1 tbsp of water) and stir it immediately. This step we call it 勾芡in Chinese. It makes the sauce thick and creamy.

Step 10

Introduce the beef back into the wok. Mix everything until well combined and you are done.