Recipe: Oyster Beef with Vegetables

Oyster beef with vegetables

Oyster beef is one of my favorite "generic" chinese dishes growing up, but one that my mother never made.  Until fairly recently I've never been very satisfied with the versions I've made at home, using a variety of recipes.  Tonight, however, I threw one together that was a big hit with the wife and about as good as I recall having at a good Chinese restaurant.   Here goes:

Ingredients:

8oz boneless cut of beef, e.g. Sirloin, New York strip, tri tip, flank, top round
1/2 red bell pepper
2 jalapeno peppers
1/2 onion
4 Baby Bella mushrooms
1 teaspoon of diced ginger
1 teaspoon of diced/crushed garlic
1/2 cup of chicken broth
1 tablespoon of cornstarch
3 tablespoos oyster sauce
1 teaspoon baking soda and 1 tablespoon of water
Marinate mixture of 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon sherry, 1 tablespoon cornstarch
3 tablespoon veg oil
1 green onion, chopped
2 tablespoon of diced cilantro
Salt and msg to taste

1. Slice beef into 1/8 inch slices.  Mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 tablespoon of water and mix into the beef.  Refrigerate for one hour.  Rinse the beef in cold water to remove the baking soda mixture.  Add marinate and mix well.  Blend in 1 tablespoon of oil and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

2. Cut bell pepper into quarter size pieces.  Slice jalapenos and remove seeds if desired.  Cut onion into 1/4 inch size pieces.  Slice mushrooms.

3. Add 1 tablespoon of oil into pan and wait until it is hot.  Stir fry beef for around 2 minutes and remove.

4. Add remaining tablespoon of oil.  Add garlic and ginger, followed by the onions.  Stir fry for around 30 seconds.  Add peppers and mushrooms and stir fry and an additional 2 minutes.

5. Return beef to pan.  Add oyster sauce.  Mix corn starch into chicken broth, then add to pan.  Stir until well mixed and bubbling.  Sprinkle in some salt and/or msg to taste.

6. Top with chopped green onion and cilantro.

This goes well with white rice and serves around 2-3 people.  The secret step, btw, is the baking soda marinate.  This is a Chinese restaurant trick that turns relatively inexpensive cuts of beef into incredibly tender pieces of meat.  Can be skipped if you use, say, rib eye steak, but why would you?