Beef With Mixed Vegetables Chinese Food
This Chinese beef dish was my favorite childhood dinner. In the late 1970's my mom started exploring new recipes with fresh ingredients like this Chinese stir fry dish. She started moving away from her generation's "convenience" recipes, which utilized Lipton onion soup mix, ketchup, and Campbell's soup. She was ahead of her time and would have embraced the fresh seasonal food movement that is going on now. One night when I was a child, we dined at a local Chinese restaurant, and my mom noticed a cookbook that was for sale: Madame Wong's Long-Life Chinese Cookbook.
Variations:
The beauty of a stir fry is that you can personalize the ingredients to your preference or what is seasonal. My mom usually made the dish with Beef and Onions, just like they made at Liu's Chinese Restaurant in Beverly Hills. We enjoyed many Sunday night dinners at this restaurant, but sadly this first-rate restaurant is long gone. Over the years my mom and I both tweaked Madame Wong's recipe. For a long time I kept this dish simple with Beef, Broccoli and Onions. In the current version, I added an assortment of vegetables such as broccoli, baby bok choy, Chinese pea pods, carrots, and water chestnuts. This used to be a meat-centric dish, but now meat and vegetables share the spot light. If you don't eat meat, try this dish with tofu or fish. Serve with brown jasmine rice.
A variation on vegetables
A version made with salmon and mixed vegetables
A note about the beef:
Filet mignon is a very tender, expensive cut of meat. Sirloin will frequently be pretty tender if cut thinly across the grain, but sometimes is still chewy. Be careful not to overcook grass fed beef.
Make ahead tips:
I ask the butcher to slice the meat for me, which cuts down the prep time. I like to cut the vegetables and measure the sauce ingredients in a measuring cup ahead of time. I park everything in the refrigerator until I stir fry at the last minute.
- 3 teaspoons organic cornstarch, divided
- 1 teaspoon granulated white sugar
- ¼ cup low sodium tamari or soy sauce
- ¼ cup sherry cooking wine or rice wine
- ¼ cup chicken broth or clear vegetable broth
- 1 pound filet mignon or beef sirloin cut across the grain into thin strips (about ¼" thick)
- 4 pinches kosher salt and several grinds of freshly cracked black pepper
- 5 cups mixed raw vegetables cut into bite-sized pieces such as 1 head of broccoli, 3 sliced baby bok choys, 1 sliced carrot, ½ can of sliced water chestnuts and ½ medium onion cut into ½ " strips.
- 1 tablespoon high heat cooking oil such as grapeseed, peanut, or canola
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Prepare the meat: sprinkle with several pinches of salt and several grinds of freshly cracked black pepper. If using sirloin, sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of cornstarch to help tenderize. If using filet mignon, the cornstarch is not needed in this step. Set aside.
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To make the sauce: Put soy sauce, wine, broth, remaining corn starch, and sugar in a glass measuring cup and stir to combine. Set aside.
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Place a large skillet or wok on the stove with medium heat. Pour in enough oil to just cover the bottom of the pan and warm oil. Sauté vegetables for about 3 to 4 minutes until vegetables are partially cooked and have turned bright in color. Vegetables should remain crunchy. Set aside.
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Place meat in the skillet. Brown on both sides over medium heat, about 4 minutes. If there is significant liquid in the bottom of the pan, drain out the liquid.
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Add the vegetables and sauce into the skillet with the meat. Stir over medium high heat. Let the meat and vegetables finish cooking in the sauce, about 2 minutes. Stir frequently. The dish is done when the sauce thickens, the meat is cooked through, and the vegetables are crisp tender. Do not overcook or the vegetables will become too soft. Serve immediately.
If making Beef with Broccoli and Onion, use 2 heads of broccoli, ½ medium onion, and same amount of sauce and meat as listed above.
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Source: https://danastable.com/chinese-stir-fry-beef-vegetables/
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