Check combined ingredients list at the bottom!
Chinese Girlfriend = Chinese food.
As I very slowly make preparations to drag her to the UK for some reason, I figured it's important to grow my chef portfolio to accommodate her cuisine preferences.
Based on my own memory and Google, 'Chinese food' in the UK, like most Western countries, is not very... Chinese. Most of it is based loosely around Cantonese/Hong Kong cuisine, sure, but then re-constructed to pander towards the Western Tastebuds: Sweet, Savory, Safe.
Basically, Dull. The same can be said for Western 'Indian' Food and all the rest. Which, I suppose, makes sense, but it sure does cut us out of a LOT of amazing flavours that truly exist out there.
And it's also not great for my girlfriend who is simply going to want something that tastes like home.
So when we do eventually live there and no Chinese restaurants serve anything outside of 'Chicken CHOW MAIN' and 'SWEET n' SOUR PORK', it's gonna have to boil down to what I can do myself.
This weekend, I learnt the Sichuan Beef Stir Fry.
Pretty simple in principle but it took me the better part of an hour, or one Genesis Album, to prep the ingredients from scratch.
In case you don't know, Sichuan is a region, a province, in China known for its very, very spicy cuisine. If you want anything spicy at all, Sichuan food is the way to go. If not, you might wanna go with a safer region such as Shanghai, Yunnan or Xinjiang cuisine!
The Beef
For this dish, some lean beef cut into small slices or thin chunks. Basically as thin as you can possibly slice with a knife but not as tiny as like store-bought minced beef. About 300g is enough for a couple of people (assuming it goes with some rice and at least one other dish). You can also use pork.
You gotta marinate this with a dash of each:
- Oyster Sauce
- Salt
- Dark Soy Sauce (mostly for colour purposes)
Mix with hands until absorbed
- Starch Water
Mix
- Rapeseed/general veggy oil
And leave that somewhere the cats can't knock over.
The Rest
According to 300g-ish of beef, I went with:
- 1 red bell pepper
- 1 red chili papper (optional for spice)
- 60g Garlic
- A big ol' wedge of Ginger like the size of two fingers curled up, or 25% the size of a cat's head.
- 40g pickled Chilis
- A handful of Coriander
- If you want a bit more veggy heavy, add another handful of Celery
Cut everything up into tiny bits and put into separate containers. Maybe the Coriander can be a little bigger, depends on your tongue.
The Cooking
Oil into wok/pan, meat goes in first, leave it for a moment to cook without stirring so it doesn't stick, then mix it about a bit.
Note: You're meant to use a wok under high heat but... whatever. i just used a non-stick round-ish pan and went as slow as I felt I could manage with my slow brain. I don't think it makes much difference
Next, throw in:
- Pickled Chilis
- Garlic
- Red peppers
Bring out flavours for about a minute
Season with a dash of:
- Salt
- Regular soy sauce
- White Pepper powder (or black, whatever)
After 30 seconds or so, add the Ginger, and finally the green veggies, Coriander and Celery. If you like those green flavours, only cook with those in the mix for a few seconds.
The Serve
Normally you wouldn't just eat this by yourself. Chinese cuisine is typically a shared experience with several dishes you pick and choose from.
For me I just boiled some plain rice, as the juices that come out of this dish are amazing when they soak into it, and cauliflower, broken into small bits, and fried with some spring onions, garlic and soy sauce (optional can add chicken).
And Voila! Legit Chinese food that will make a homesick Chinese girl cry.
Like I said, Pretty basic to make, just takes a while to set up. Absolutely worth it.
Combined Ingredients list
- 300g of lean beef or pork
- 60g Garlic
- 60-ish grams Ginger
- 40g pickled Chilis
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- 1 Red Chili Pepper (according to taste)
- 1 handful of coriander
- Some amount of Celery (optional)
Marinade:
- 4g Oyster Sauce
- Pinch of Salt
- 4g Dark Soy Sauce
- A dash of Starch Water (Water & Corn/potato starch)
- A dash of Vegetable oil (To prevent from sticking together)
Additional Seasoning, a dash of each:
- White/Black Pepper Powder
- Regular/light soy sauce