Enjoy this Chinese restaurant beef stir-fry recipe at home by making the umami-packed sauce from scratch – it’s seriously good! Try serving the tender beef, crunchy vegies and savoury upon savoury deliciousness as is, or with steamed rice or noodles.
Beef & Black Bean Stir-fry
500g (1 lb) rump steak
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, sliced
2 capsicums (bell peppers), deseeded, cut into bite-sized pieces
¼ cup oyster sauce
2 spring onions (scallions), roughly chopped
Marinade:
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese Shaoxing wine*
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
3 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
Homemade black bean sauce:
¼ cup peanut oil
8 garlic cloves, finely grated
4cm piece ginger, peeled & finely grated
½ cup salted fermented black beans*
2 tbsp Chinese shaoxing wine
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)
- For the black bean sauce, heat the oil in a wok over high heat. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring often for 1 minute or until aromatic. Add the black beans and stir to combine.
- Add ½ cup of water to the wok along with the Shaoxing, soy and sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the water has nearly evaporated.
- Combine the cornflour with 2 teaspoons of water. Add to the wok and simmer for 2 minutes or until thickened. Set aside.
- Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Then slice the steaks against the grain and on the diagonal to form wide strips that are no more than half a centimetre (3/16”) thick. Add to the marinade and mix well with your hands to make sure each piece of beef is coated. Set aside to marinate for 10 minutes.
- Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick frying pan over high heat. Add the beef and spread out the strips as much as possible and allow to sear for about 2 minutes. Use a spatula to toss the beef around and then cook for another 2 minutes or until nicely seared. Now add the onion and stir-fry for a minute or until slightly softened. Add the capsicum and stir-fry for another 2 minutes.
- Add 2 tablespoons of your homemade black bean sauce, oyster sauce and 3 tablespoons of water. Stir-fry until well combined. Toss through the spring onion and serve. The remainder of your homemade black bean sauce can be transferred to a sterilised jar.
- Notes: – Salted fermented black beans come in vacuum packs or in cans. You can find them from an Asian grocery store or order them online. – Chinese Shaoxing wine is a type of cooking rice wine. It’s available in the Asian aisle of some major supermarkets or from an Asian grocery store. If you’d rather leave it out, simply replace with beef stock. – You can check out more Asian beef chuck recipes here !
