Hey everyone! I'm back with another of my superpops yummlicious Chinese takeaway dishes. This time I'm making beef pineapple with pepper and ginger. I just googled this dish, and I have to say, I wasn't impressed at all with the images and recipes I found. Let me show you how to make one that looks, and taste as good as this one I made.
THE INGREDIENTS
I love the ingredients to make this dish as its so colourful. It looks so appetising when you prepare it, that it makes you look forward to it so much.
First of all I have one red bell pepper. You can use any colour bell people you like, green, yellow or red, it doesn't matter. I used red to give some colour contrast, you can use green as well, or even yellow if you like mono colour. The mono colour I'm referring is the next ingredient, pineapple. I have two rings remaining from the tin I used for my Chicken fried rice last week. Anything between two to four rings will be fine, but not more. Then I have half a red onion. Normal white onion will also be ok but I like red onion as they taste nicer. These three ingredients should be cut into roughly the same bitesize. Next, I have five or six slices of root ginger. If you have preserved or stem ginger that would work as well. And finally, some fresh spring onion cut into short segments.
Now the most important ingredient - beef! I used skirt, as it's affordable and flavoursome. I don't know how much beef I have here, but basically I cooked enough for two. I marinated them with some soy sauce, a tiny bit of sugar, cornflour and oil. Don't marinate your beef with salt as it makes the texture go mushy. And finally, keep the pineapple juice from the tin.
THE PROCESS
Stir fries are really easy to make, you just need to get the right ingredients, and cook them in the right order. With this dish, the most important thing is the sauce. That's the soul of the dish, get that right, it will look and taste better than any recipe you will find on the internet.
1. Beef
Fry the beef in a little oil. Keep moving them in the pan, and cook till they are brown on the outside. That should only take a minute or so. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. Vegetables
Tip the onion in the pan and fry for about a minute. They should start to soften a little, you will smell it. Now add the ginger slices and toss it around to release the aroma. Next is the peppers. Fry all this for about another minute.
3. Sauce
Pour the pineapple juice onto the vegetable. If there isn't a lot of juice, top it up with some water. The liquid should just about cover the veg. The secret to making a great pineapple with pepper and ginger dish is the tangy flavour. Most of this comes from the pineapple, but we need to enhance the flavour and texture of the dish to take it to the next level. This is where my favourite condiment comes in - tomato ketchup. I've added quite a big dollop. You need to balance the ketchup with some sugar. Add a little salt for seasoning as well. This step should take about two minutes, don't take too long otherwise the liquid will dry up and the veg becomes too mushy.
4. Beef again
Once you're done with the seasoning, add the beef back into the pan and cook for another minute. The stickiness from the ketchup should thicken up the sauce coating the beef and veg. If it's too watery, mix a little cornflour with water into a runny paste and add that to thicken it up. You need to be quick otherwise you will overcook the beef and it becomes rubbery.
5. Final touches
Finally, sprinkle the spring onions on top. The sauce should be velvety red smooth and coats the ingredients lightly. And by now, you should also smell the tangy flavour from the combination of pineapple, pepper, ginger and ketchup. Yum!
And here's my superpops yummlicious beef pineapple with pepper and ginger ready in less than 8 minutes
Bon appetit!
Bon appetit!
