Christine's Recipes Printable Version: Beef

Showing posts with label Beef. Show all posts

Beef Tendon and Brisket Stew

Prep time: 20 mins
Cook time: 3 hrs
Yield: 4 to 5 serves

Ingredients:

900 gm beef brisket, chopped into chunks
500 gm beef tendon, chopped into chunks
2 to 3 pieces red fermented beancurd (南乳), mashed
1 Tbsp ground bean sauce (磨豉醬)
4 cups water
4 pieces ginger
20 gm rock sugar, thumb-sized
1 carrot or diakon, roughly chopped

Sauce:

2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp cornflour / corn starch
2 tsp oyster sauce
2 Tbsp water
salt, to taste

Method:

Blanch beef brisket and tendon in boiling water for about 3 minutes to remove the blood and impurities. (Remark: blanch in batches if your wok or pot is not large enough.) Rinse and drain well.
Heat oil in a heavy-based pot over medium heat. Sauté ginger, red fermented beancurd and ground bean sauce. Add the brisket and tendon and stir fry for about 5 minutes. Add water and rock sugar. Bring it to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to simmer for about 3 hours, until the brisket and tendon turn soft. Add boiling water if the water lever is too low. The water should be enough to cover the tendon. Add carrot or radish. Continue to cook for another 20 minutes. Stir in the sauce and cook to your preferred consistency.

Notes：

It takes quite a while to cook the beef tendon until softened. You might like to use the residue heat in the pot to save energy. Cover and cook for half an hour. Turn off the heat with cover on and let the residue heat inside continue the cooking for about 20 minutes. Repeat this step until the tendon is softened.
Along the way of cooking, the water should be enough to cover the tendon. Otherwise, it’d hardly be softened. Or stir occasionally and help heat the tendon evenly.
If using a pressure cooker, cooking time can be cut by half at least.
Red fermented beancurd and ground bean sauce are available at Asian grocers.

Beef Mince Congee (Beef Rice Porridge)

This is an old-fashioned breakfast I always had when I was a primary-school aged kid. To me, a bowl of nice and hot congee before going to school seemed to be a luxury enjoyment, although it didn’t cost much at all. The traditional way of enjoying the congee is to go with a plate of steamed rice noodle rolls (豬腸粉) or deep-fried dough , aka “you tiao” (油條).

You can make some plain congee a day or a few days ahead, and store it in fridge. Whenever you need it, just bring it to boil and pop in some marinated beef mince. There you go, a nice and hot breakfast is served in a few minutes. This congee is best served hot. The highlight of it is the soft, tender and just cooked beef mince. That’s why Hong Kong chefs often ladle boiling congee over beef mince. You might like to replace with any meat you like, for example, pork or chicken.

Beef Mince Congee (Printable recipe)
By Christine's Recipes
Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 100 mins
Yield: 3 to 4 serves

Ingredients:

145 gm (about 1 rice cup) rice
3 L (12 cups) water
salt, to taste
oil, to taste
150 gm beef mince
35 gm rice vermicelli (aka rice sticks, rice noodles)
deep-fried peanuts, to taste, optional
spring onion, diced to taste

Marinade:

1 egg white
3 tsp water
2 tsp cornflour/corn starch
2 tsp oil
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
sesame oil, to taste

Method:

Rinse rice two to three times. Drain well. Mix with a little bit of oil and salt. Set aside for 20 minutes.
Use a large pot, bring 3 liters of water to boil. Add the rice and stir to prevent from sticking to the bottom. When it boils again, reduce heat to medium and continue to cook until the rice soften and the congee thickens, about 1½ hours. Be sure not to let it spill over along the way of cooking.
Heat up one-third of a pot with oil over medium heat. Put a tiny bit of rice vermicelli to test the temperature of the oil. If the rice vermicelli immediately floats to the surface with bubbles vigorously arise, the oil is ready. Deep fry the rice vermicelli until it turns fluffy, yet not brown. Immediately drain out and place on kitchen towels to absorb excess oil. Let it cool completely.
Mix the beef with the marinade. Mix in the rice vermicelli.
Put the marinated beef in the congee, or place at the bottom of individual serving bowls, then ladle boiling congee over it. Sprinkle some spring onion and fried peanuts if you like. Enjoy!

Notes:

For making best congee, I learned a trick from my mother-in-law. Mix the rinsed rice with a bit of oil and salt before cooking it with boiling water. The rice will be broken down very quickly and produce a very nice starchy texture.
Along the way of cooking, the congee is easily spill over as a result you'll loose the fantastic, smooth, starchy content broken from the rice. Thus, keep an eye on it and try not let it spill over by all means.
When it comes to mixing the beef with the marinade and rice vermicelli, it’s better to use your hand (Clean your hand of course, or wear hygienic gloves.)
Don’t over cook the beef. The beef turns tough otherwise. That’s why Hong Kong chefs often ladle boiling congee over beef mince instead of cooking it in boiling congee.

Japanese Enoki Beef Rolls

When making this dish, you might like to use the already thinly sliced beef for hotpot. It's very handy. You can get them from Korean or Japanese stores. The texture is really tender.

Prep time: 10 mins
Cook time: 10 mins
Yield: 2 to 3 serves

Ingredients:

20 thin slices (about 100 gm) beef fillet
120 gm enoki mushrooms

Seasonings:

2 Tbsp Japanese cooking wine
2½ Tbsp light soy sauce
2½ Tbsp mirin
1 Tbsp sugar

Method:

Trim away the roots of the mushrooms and remove any dirts. Rinse and wipe dry with kitchen pappers. Divide them into 10 equal portions.
Roll and wrap each portion of the mushrooms with 2 slices of beef.
Heat up some oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Place the beef rolls into the pan in a single layer with seams facing down. Pan fry for about 1 minute. Carefully turn to another side. Pour in the seasonings. Increase heat to high and cook until the mushrooms become soft. Serve immediately.

Lasagna (Beef and Eggplant)

Before moving to Australia, my parents always said to me that the moon was bigger overseas. It seems that they are right. The moon looks brighter and larger due to no high-rise buildings around blocking the view. I found the eggplants here are very big as well. The one I made lasagna was nearly 1 kg. It’s a giant eggplant indeed. My daughter is a big fan of eggplants, big or small ones are on the top list of her favourite vegetables. This lasagna was made the other day to ease her cravings. She nearly finished one whole tray by herself. I guess she was very pleased and satisfied.

I used fresh lasagna sheets made by my pasta machine. To make fresh lasagna sheets by scratch is much easier than I thought, just took a bit longer time to get them ready. No need to cook them in water in advance. What I needed was to roll them in the right size, placed in the baking tray with sauce, then that’s it. If you’d like to try this recipe and are too busy to make lasagna sheets from scratch, you might substitute the dried ones bought from supermarkets. I tried San Remo’s Instant Lasagna sheets, needless to pre-cook, the end results were good. Thus, I keep a packet of it in my pantry to back up for a lazy day.

You might’ve noticed that I used soy sauce to marinate the beef, that’s quite a deviant way of cooking an Italian dish. In response to the trend of making crossed-over, fusion cuisine in Hong Kong, I made a little tweak in preparing the beef. The soy sauce acts like an umami enhancer, bringing up the sauce to another tasty level.

Beef and Eggplant Lasagna (Printable recipe)
By Christine's Recipes
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 55 minutes
Yield: serves 5 to 6

Ingredients:

3 lasagna sheets (fresh homemade or dried, bought from supermarkets)
1, about 900 gm large eggplant (or 2 to 3 small)
620 gm beef mince
1 onion, diced
1 tsp minced garlic
2 cans Italian diced tomatoes, each 400 gm
1 Tbsp ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
ground nutmeg, to taste, optional
1/2 cup basil leaves, finely chopped
Mozzarella cheese, to taste, grated
raw sugar, to taste
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Marinade:

1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tsp corn flour
1 egg
pepper, to taste

Thickening:

2 tsp corn flour
2 Tbsp water

Method:

Mix the beef with the marinade. Set aside. Preheat oven to 180C/356F.
Heat oil in frying pan. Add onion and sauté over medium-high heat until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.
Add beef and cook until browned, stirring and mashing with a wooden spoon to separate any lumps.
Pour in the two cans of diced tomatoes with juice. Stir in ketchup, Worcestershire sauce. Sprinkle ground nutmeg if desired. Bring it to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer until the sauce thickens, about 15 minutes, with occasional stirring. Season with sugar, salt and pepper. Remember to taste by yourself, adjust seasonings until satisfied. Add the thickening and cook to preferred consistency. Turn off the heat, stir in the basil leaves. Set aside.
While cooking the sauce, rinse the eggplant and wipe dry with paper towels. Slice into about 1cm thickness. Brush oil and season with salt on both sides. Bake in the preheated oven, for about 10 minutes. Turn to another side, and bake for another 10 minutes. Set aside.
Line eggplant slices on the bottom of two baking trays. Spoon about 1/6 of the beef sauce over the eggplant, topped with a lasagna sheet. Repeat layers for both trays, ending up with three layers each. Top with remaining sauce and cheese.
Bake in the preheated 180C/356F oven, for about 20 minutes. Increase heat to 200C/395F, bake for another 8 to 10 minutes, or until cheese is golden. Serve hot.

Notes:

Eggplants go very well with beef. You can adjust the amount of the eggplant if desired.
You might like to turn this dish into a vegan one, just skip the beef. Or add more favourite vegetables if you like. If only vegetables are used, the sauce still tastes wonderful with them.
While baking for the last 10 minutes, don’t leave the lasagna unattended. Watch over the cheese on top as it easily gets burned.
If there’s any leftover, it can be kept for a few days in fridge, three weeks in a freezer.

Other delicious lasagna recipes:

Lasagna from Simply Recipes
Lasagna Tart Recipe from 101 Cookbooks
Gluten-Free Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Recipe from Gluten-Free Recipes
Grilled Zucchini "Lasagna" with Italian Sausage, Tomato, and Basil Sauce from kalyn's ktchen

Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce (Ikea Recipe)

Ikea has made known their Swedish dishes around the world, especially the Swedish meatballs attract countless fans. Every now and then, my hubby and I would drop in their restaurant to taste their signature dish. To me, the lingonberry jelly is a must-have add-on. If without it, I’d feel it won’t be Swedish at all.

You can tell how I’m addicted to Ikea meatballs, when spotting the picture of Ikea cookbook below. Yes, I did buy their cookbook just for wanting to make the dish at home. The original recipe in the cookbook, uses Swedish measurement, that is dl instead of ml. Although I tweaked slightly by replacing breadcrumbs with the unsweetened rusk flour simply because I couldn’t find any here from supermarkets, my family was very satisfied with the end result.

Do you like Swedish meatballs? Or do you whip up your own meatball recipe? If so, feel free to drop a line to share with us.

Swedish Meatballs with Cream Sauce (recipe from Ikea's Real Swedish Food Book ) (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

250gm minced beef
250gm minced pork
1 egg
200-300 ml cream and water (or milk and water) (I used half milk and half water)
2½ Tbsp onion, finely chopped
50 ml unsweetened rusk flour (I used ½ cup of breadcrumbs.)
2 cold boiled potatoes
4-5 Tbsp butter, margarine or oil
salt, white pepper (allspice)

Method:

Heat the onion till golden in a couple of tablespoons of lightly browned butter.
Mash the potatoes and moisten the rusk flour in a little water.
Mix all the ingredients into a smooth mixture of the right consistency and flavour generously with salt, white pepper and (optional) a little fine-crushed allspice.
Use a pair of spoons rinsed in water, shape the mixture into relatively large, round balls and transfer to a floured chopping board, then fry them slowly in plenty of butter.

Ingredients of cream sauce:

100 ml cream
200 ml water or beef stock
Chinese soya sauce (I used 1 teaspoon of light soy sauce and 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce.)
1 Tbsp white flour
salt, white pepper

Method:

Swirl the water or beef stock in a pan. (Cook over medium heat.)
Add cream and thicken with white flour if preferred. Season well with salt and pepper.
Serve the meatballs with the sauce, freshly boiled potatoes (I used extra potatoes to make mashed potato), uncooked lingonberry jam and salad.

Enjoy the authentic taste of Swedish meal!

Note:

As a few readers asked me whether the potatoes are for making meatballs or for making mashed potato. Sorry for a bit of confusion. The "2 cold boiled potatoes" in the section of "ingredients" are for making meatballs. Whereas the mashed potato served on side shown in the above pictures are extra.

Christmas Grilled Veal with Spicy Tomato Sauce

Still looking for Christmas recipes ? Traditional roast turkey, glazed ham or cookies might have been on your list already. How about a spicy, quick dish that can be cooked on the spot to entertain your guest with no fuss?

Apart from those must-have Christmas dishes to celebrate the season, as our Aussie friends love enjoying BBQ at the backyard, I’m thinking of making a different savoury one, that is suitable for catering a bunch of people in a festive party. This grilled veal with spicy tomato sauce doesn’t need any complicated preparation work and long cooking time. It can be whipped up on the go once you have done the minimalist preparation. The tender and juicy veal that freshly grilled on the spot will surely warm up the hearts of your guests and family.

I often like to use Campbell’s soup to add more flavours in a dish. This time I used the Tomato Bisque, courtesy of Campbell's Soup Hong Kong, to whip up the sauce for the grilled veal, and added a mild spicy kick of chili.

Christmas Grilled Veal with Spicy Tomato Sauce (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

300 gm beef veal
1/2 green capsicum, cut into chunks
1/2 onion, cut into pieces
5 slices pineapple, fresh or canned
2 to 3 cherry tomatoes, for garnish
5 skewers

Spicy tomato sauce:

1 can (about 305 grams) Campbell’s tomato bisque
100 ml water
1/2 tsp red chilli powder

Marinade:

2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp corn flour
1/2 tsp Shaoxing wine
1/4 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
3 Tbsp freshly grated pear
1/2 tsp minced garlic

Method:

Cut veal against the grains into 20 dices, each about 1.5cm in size. Mix with marinade. Cover and chill in fridge for about 1 hour.
Use a small sauce pot, pour in the tomato bisque and water. Stir in chilli powder. Cook on medium heat and bring it to a boil. Turn off the heat and keep warm. Set aside.
Soak skewers in water for 15 minutes. Cut each slice of pineapple into 4 to 5 pieces. Wipe dry with kitchen papers.
Remove marinated veal from fridge. Leave it at room temperature for a while. Skewer capsicum, onion, veal and pineapple. It should be 4 pieces of veal on each skewer.
Grill on high heat to your preferred doneness. Ladle warm spicy tomato sauce over the grilled veal. Garnish with cherry tomatoes and red chilli if desired.

Notes:

You might like to substitute veal with beef fillet.
The freshly grated pear can help tenderize the meat, also add a subtle sweetness.
If you don’t want it spicy, you might reduce the amount of red chilli or just skip it while cooking the sauce. The sauce still tastes wonderful to go with the grilled veal.

Braised Beef Cheek in Pedro Ximenez on Cauliflower Puree

I heart beef, but seldom thought of making any dish with beef cheeks. The recipe of the slowly braised beef cheek that Trissa found in the Movida Rustica cookbook really got me thinking, “Hm…I should give it a go.” When I asked my daughter, “Do you want to try beef cheeks?” she instantly raised her eyebrows. “Beef cheeks? How to cook?” I know her very much. The two words “beef cheek” absolutely got her interest. With a bit concern, I didn’t promise her to make this dish because I was worrying that I couldn’t get all the ingredients, as I hadn’t seen any beef cheek here before. Well, I might haven’t noticed if there’s any.

To my surprise, I found three packets of beef cheek at Woolworths the following day. No need for second thought, I took two of them. I, myself, felt the end result was very satisfied. My daughter asked me to save a big portion for her next day’s lunch. The super tender, melt-in-mouth beef cheek on the creamy cauliflower puree was really a big hit in my family.

Movida’s Braised Beef Cheek in Pedro Ximenez on Cauliflower Puree

Recipe from Richard Cornish and Frank Camorra's Movida Rustica (via: Trissalicious) (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

1.5 kg beef cheeks
125 ml olive oil
3 carrots, roughly chopped
1 garlic bulb, halved
1 brown onion, sliced
500 ml Pedro Ximenez Sherry
500 ml red wine
3 bay leaves
3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 head cauliflower, broken into florets
185 ml cream
40 grams butter

Braised Beef Cheek in Pedro Ximenez on Cauliflower Puree Ingredients

Method:

Trim the beef cheeks to neaten them up and remove any new sinew and silver skin. Season well.
Heat half the olive oil in a large heavy-based saucepan over high heat. Brown the beef cheeks for 2 minutes on each side, or until golden, then remove from the pan.
Add the remaining olive oil, then add the carrot, garlic, onion and saute over high heat for 12 to 15 minutes, or until well browned. Stir in the sherry, wine, bay leaves, thyme, sea salt and 500 ml water. Reduce the heat as low as possible, add the beef cheeks, then cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours, or until the cheeks are beginning to fall apart.
Meanwhile, put the cauliflower, cream and butter in a saucepan, season to taste with salt, then cover and cook over low heat for 35 minutes, or until very tender. Place the cauliflower mixture in a blender and process until smooth. Keep the puree warm.
The sauce from the beef cheeks should by now be reduced and glaze like. It if needs further reducing, remove the cheeks from the pan, cover with foil to keep them warm, and simmer the sauce over high heat until nicely reduced. Strain the sauce through a fine sieve and return to the pan; gently reheat the cheeks in the sauce if necessary.
Serve the cheeks and their sauce on warm plates with the cauliflower puree.

Sukiyaki (Japanese Hot Pot)

There are times to cook, times to eat. Would there be times that you just want to eat good foods but don’t want to do too much cooking? For whatever reasons, be it busyness, or tiredness, there could be some reason you don’t want to stand in the kitchen for long hours, still love staying at home and enjoying a good meal. Sukiyaki (Japanese hot pot) is on the list of my favourite dishes for a day as such.

Making this dish is far easier than you might imagine. What I need is to get a packet of thinly sliced Shabu-shabu beef from a Korean shop nearby first. Quickly grab some vegetables out from fridge, rinse and roughly cut them into pieces. Put all the ingredients in a pan and cook with the delicious Sukiyaki sauce. Another way of enjoying this dish is like having Chinese steamboat (fondue). Just set up a stove and pot on the table and let everyone pick anything they like and cook by themselves. You can sit back and relax, as well as eating of course.

Browsing the ingredient list, you might notice I added one special thing, Konjac threads (see picture shown below). Konjac is commonly used in Japanese cuisine, including sukiyaki and oden. Konjac has almost no calories but is very high in fiber, often used as a diet food too. The preparation of Konjac is minimal. Discard the water in the packet and drain out the Konjac. Give them a good rinse, then they are ready to cook with the sauce.

Sukiyaki (Japanese Hot Pot) (Printable recipe)

Makes 2 to 3 serves
Ingredients:

200 gm beef, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, shredded
4 slices tofu
150 gm Chinese cabbage, cut into sections
1 carrot, sliced
3 bunches Konjac thread, optional, available at Asian grocery stores
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms
100 gm enoki mushrooms
1 stalk spring onion

Sauce:

100 ml Japanese soy sauce
100 ml mirin
100 ml rice wine
50 gm sugar

Shabu-shabu beef

Konjac threads

Method:

Mix all ingredients of sauce in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Set aside.
Use a pot or frying pan, heat up 2 tablespoon of oil. Add onion and cook until soften. Push to the side of pan, add beef and cook until both sides lightly brown. Pour sauce over the beef and onion to taste. Then add other ingredients, cabbages, tofu, carrot, Konjac, shiitake and enoki, one by one and cook for a while, season with sauce. Cook until all ingredients through. Served hot.

Notes:

You can adjust the amount of all ingredients to your liking.
Traditionally, Japanese people like dipping the cooked meat and vegetables into whisked egg before eating, similar to the way of Hong Kong people enjoying steam boat (hot pot) .
I bought the Shabu-shabu beef to cook this dish, that is usually used for Japanese hot pot. The texture is still very soft after cooking in the sauce. The reason of cooking beef first is that all other ingredients, especially the vegetables would release some water. If the sauce dilutes, keep cooking to reduce the sauce to your preference.
I used Yamasa soy sauce, that's naturally brewed, not too salty but balanced with savoury taste and soy fragrance, adding a great flavour to this dish.

Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Beef (Classic Cantonese Noodles)

If you have a chance of going for Yum Cha in any Chinese restaurants, you might notice this traditional dish on their menu. The Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Beef (Beef chow fun, 乾炒牛河) is a classic Cantonese noodles. My father used to order it for us whenever we went to a Chinese restaurant, our all time favourite. I love eating it from childhood and it’s got lots of beautiful memories associated with this dish. Even after moving to Australia, I’d like to cook this dish every now and then, enjoying a cup of Chinese tea.

This dish looks simple, yet involves lots of cooking skills and experiences, as the Wikipedia says, “it’s a major test for chefs in Cantonese cooking”. But I don't want to intimate you to try and cook this dish at home, it can be done nicely with some measures taken into account.

Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Beef (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

500 gm flat rice noodles ("hefen" or known as "Shahe fen" 河粉), available at Asian stores
150 gm beef
1/2 onion, shredded
120 gm bean sprouts, trimmed
shredded ginger, to taste
1 stalk spring onion, chopped

Marinade:

2 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp corn flour
3/4 tsp sugar
2 tsp water
sesame oil, to taste

Seasonings:

2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp dark soy sauce, or to taste
Salt, to taste
1 tsp Sugar

Stir-fried Rice Noodles with Beef Procedures

Method:

Rinse beef and wrap dry with kitchen papers. Thinly slide across the grain. Mix with marinade for 15 minutes. Set aside.
Heat oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Place beef on a single layer and fry both sides, until they are 70% cooked. (Note: Don’t need to stir the beef. The yummy meat juice inside will leak if the heat is down otherwise. This frying method helps the surface of your beef to be cooked quickly and seal the juice inside.) Set aside.
Heat more oil in pan. Add onion and stir fry until truculent and fragrant. Be sure not to burn them. Add ginger and bean sprouts. When the bean sprouts are softened, push the onion and bean sprouts to the sides of pan if it’s big enough, or dish them up if your pan is too small. Increase heat to high. Toss in flat noodles and stir fry until it’s really heated up. Add seasoning. Remember to taste by yourself. Add more light soy sauce if needed, bit by bit at a time. If you find the colour of flat noodles is not dark enough, you can add more dark soy sauce if you like. Mind you that if too much dark soy sauce is added, your noodles will taste bitter.
Toss back the beef, onion and bean sprouts, combine all ingredients. Add spring onion and mix. Serve hot.

Notes:

Trim the tails of bean sprouts if you have time, and get a better looking. But I have to say, it takes lots of time and effort to trim every tiny bean sprout. Some Asian stores would have trimmed bean sprouts available, but much expensive than the regular ones. Having said that, if you don’t trim them, it’s not a big deal because the whole bean sprout can be eaten and is nutritious. Just the looking is different.
If you don’t want soggy and sticky fried flat noodles, don’t ever blanch them. If you do, there’s no way to turn them around. Normally, when you get a packet of flat rice noodles, they are coated with some oil. You can just drop them into a frying pan and stir fry right away. Use less oil in pan, of course. If you’re concerned with the hygiene, you might like to put the rice noodles in a drainer, then pour over boiling water to wash away the oil on the surface. Drain very well.
When it comes to frying flat rice noodles, it should be soft, smooth and seasoned with the flavour of soy sauce. We all like very hot and tasty fried noodles, right? Many people would find it’s not easy to get very hot flat rice noodles in good shape. The flat rice noodles are very fragile in a certain sense. They would quickly and easily break into pieces and turn into a mess. So in a Cantonese restaurant, the heat that the chef used is very high (It’s known as "wok hei" 鑊氣) and the chef only flips the wok without stirring the noodles too much and get the dish done very quickly. But in home cooking, the temperature of our stoves is not as high as those in Chinese restaurants. Is there any way of cooking a nice plate of HOT fried flat noodles without stirring too much?
Here’s a quick and simple way: Preheat them in a microwave! Carefully separate each strip of rice noodles apart before tossing them in your pan.

Black Pepper Beef Stir Fry

When comes to cooking this popular, Chinese stir-fry dish, the choice of beef is the key to success. The beef should be the first grade of beef fillet. Then you can be very sure to enjoy the tender, juicy, delicious beef seasoned with freshly grated black pepper. Some Chinese restaurants even serve this dish on a very hot iron plate, sizzling with rich black pepper sauce.

Adapted from: 何師奶《自家製家常菜》(Recipes are in both Chinese and English)

Black Pepper Beef Stir Fry (Printable recipe)

Ingredients:

300 gm beef fillet
1 onion
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp ground black pepper
2 Tbsp oil
salt, to taste

Marinades:

2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp water
1 tsp cornflour

Seasonings:

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
1 Tbsp water

Method:

Dice beef. Mix well with marinades. Dice onion and set aside.
Heat wok with oil over medium heat. Stir fry onion until soft. Push onion to sides of wok. Add garlic in the middle of wok. Increase heat to high, toss in beef cubes. Add more oil if necessary. Stir fry beef and lightly brown all sides. Stir and mix all ingredients together. Cover and cook until steam releases from wok. Add seasonings and combine evenly. Sprinkle ground black pepper and season with salt if needed. Done

Notes:

It’s better to stir fry the onion first. The flavour of onion infused in oil will enrich the taste of beef added afterward.
Make sure to stir fry beef over high heat. By doing this, the surface of beef will be cooked quickly and meat juice is sealed inside. If the temperature of your wok is not high enough, you’ll loose the juice inside the beef cubes and the stir-fry dish becomes too runny otherwise.
If your wok is not large enough, it’s better to dish up the stir-fried onion and set aside in order to make more room for your beef. When the beef is almost done, toss back the onion and cook briefly with beef.

Stir Fried Shredded Beef with Preserved Vegetable (味菜牛柳絲)

Whenever this classic Chinese dish, Stir Fried Shredded Beef with Preserved Vegetableis put in front of me, I’d definitely eat more rice. You can’t image how tasty the sweet and sour preserved vegetable would be, that goes so well with the tender stir-fried beef.

In Chinese cooking, there is a variety of preserved vegetables that can be used. For this dish, it has to use the one that is also known as pickled Chinese mustard (味菜 or 酸菜, Suan Cai), fermented by pickling with salt and brine. To prepare the suan cai, it only involves three steps: soaking in salted water, rinse with plenty of water and stir-frying with vinegar and sugar to adjust the taste to preference. I learned the trick from my mother-in-law, who is experienced in cooking suan cai.

When it comes to cooking suan cai, an important note for all my readers who love Chinese cuisine: we have to use the stainless steel wok or pan to cook it for the sake of health, because stainless steel won’t react to vinegar at any temperature

Ingredients:

300 gm beef fillet, julienned
60 gm preserved vegetable (味菜 pickled Chinese mustard)
1/4 green capsicum
1/4 red capsicum
2 Tbsp chicken stock
1 tsp minced garlic

Seasoning for preserved vegetable:

1 Tbsp white vinegar (or adjust to your preference)
1 Tbsp white sugar (or adjust to your preference)

Marinade:

2 1/2 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp water
a dash of sesame oil
a pinch of white pepper

Thickening:

2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp sugar
2 Tbsp water

Stir Fried Shredded Beef with Preserved Vegetable Procedures

Method:

Add a teaspoon of salt in a bowl of water. Soak the preserved vegetable in salted water for half an hour. Wash with plenty of water and rinse well. Squeeze out excess water. Roughly cut into smaller pieces. Mix beef with marinade for about 20 minutes. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok or frypan. Sauté beef over medium to high heat until 80% done. Don’t cook the beef through at this stage yet, because you will stir fry the beef with other ingredients and cook some more time. If the beef is overcooked, the texture would be too tough otherwise.
Dry fry the preserved vegetable (no need to add any oil) in a stainless steel wok or pan over low heat. Add vinegar and sugar and stir all the way through. Taste and adjust the amount of vinegar and sugar until you are satisfied.
Use the same pan you stir fried the beef. Add more oil to sauté garlic over medium-high heat until aromatic. Add green and red capsicum. Pour 2 tablespoons of chicken stock and cook until dry up a bit. Toss in preserved vegetable and beef. Quickly stir fry and combine all ingredients well. Add thickening and cook to your preferred consistency. Serve hot.

Shepherd’s Pie (A touch of Oriental Taste)

This classic Shepherd’s pie is well-known to many people living in western countries. Yet I didn’t know or even ever had a chance to see or taste this delicious pie before moving to Australia. In Hong Kong, we have all pies that are made of pastry, either crust or puff one. I love making this Shepherd’s pie. Not only does it taste heavenly, but also easy to make due to no pastry needed at all. My daughter loves this pie very much and requested me to make for her again and again. You’ll notice my Shepherd’s pie is a bit different from those of original ones because I adapted Chinese marinade in seasoning beef, adding a touch of oriental taste.

Ingredients:

400 gm minced beef
2 to 3 potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
85 gm green peas
90 gm corn kernels (fresh or canned)
a knob butter (to preference)
1 tsp minced garlic

Marinade:

2 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp cornflour
1 tsp water
black pepper, to taste

Method:

Mix beef with marinade and leave for 15 to 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C (392F).
Peel potatoes and cut into dices. Cook in salted boiling water for 20 minutes, or until soft. Drain well, covered (Let potato absorb more moist. Mash later.)
Blanch green peas and corn kernels. Drain well and set aside.
Heat oil in pan over medium heat. Sauté onion for 2 minutes. Add garlic and stir fry until aromatic. Then add beef and quickly stir fry until colour changed. When cooking beef, use a fork to separate meat and not let them stick together. Add green peas and corn kernels and combine well.
Use an ovenproof baking bowl. Heat and melt a knob of butter over medium heat. Transfer beef and mixed vegetables into baking bowl.
Making mashed potato: Use a potato masher to mash until smooth. Add milk and butter. Use a spoon to stir until combined thoroughly. Taste and season with salt and pepper (Refer to detailed steps and photos of making mashed potato here).
Spoon mashed potato on top of beef and vegetables and level evenly. Use a fork to draw patterns if you like. Scatter some more butter cubes on the surface of mashed potato. Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until mashed potato is golden brown. Serve hot!

Tips:

As all the ingredients are cooked through before baking, it won’t take too long to get it done. The pie would be too dry otherwise. To shorten cooking time, you can grill this pie until potato turns golden brown.
Remember to open the oven door a few inches when grilling. Don’t leave it unattended.

Beef Short Ribs with Black Pepper (黑椒牛仔骨)

Many of my friends like to order this Beef Short Ribs with Black Pepper in Chinese restaurants. The cooking method of beef short ribs is quite unique and new to my Aussie friends. They used to have grilled or baked short ribs that need thicker cuts of course. As for this Chinese stir-fried dish, the thinner the short ribs you use, the better result you’d get. Yet it could be quite hard to find beef short ribs in thin cuts at any supermarkets here, as they might only offer thicker cuts for BBQ or bakery. Then you have to ask the butcher at supermarkets to slice short ribs as thin as you would like if you really want to cook this dish. If you are living in Hong Kong or other Asian regions, you might not have the problem of getting the right thickness of short ribs of course.

To save time and energy to ask for a favour, I found some short ribs from a Korean shop, that were cut for Korean BBQ. They are perfect in size and quality to use in cooking this dish. If you don't like any bones, just buy the quality veal, thinly sliced. It's also awesome in taste.

Stir-fried Beef Short Ribs with Black Pepper

Ingredients:

300 gm beef short ribs (or veal, thinly sliced)
1 onion
1/2 stalk celery
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp minced shallot
1 tsp freshly grated black pepper
2 Tbsp chicken stock

Marinade:

2 tsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp Shaoxing wing
a dash sesame oil
black pepper, to taste

Thickening:

1 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
2 Tbsp water

Stir-fried Beef Short Ribs with Black Pepper Procedures

Method:

Rinse short ribs and wipe them dry. Cut into about 2.5cm (1 inch) in length. Blend in marinade for 15 minutes. Heat oil in a frypan over high heat until lightly brown, about 80% done. Make sure to fry briefly in one single layer, not letting them overlap. Set aside, covered.
Heat some oil and sauté onion over medium heat until translucent. Add celery, continue to cook for 3 minutes. Push onion and celery to sides of pan. Add a dash of oil to sauté black pepper, garlic and shallot in the center until aromatic. Stir and combine onion and celery. Pour chicken stock and continue to cook until onion softens. When sauce dries up a bit, toss back short ribs. Turn to high heat. Add thickening, stir quickly and combine well. Cook consistency to your preference. Dish up and enjoy.

Spiced Beef Shin (Chinese Cuisine)

A reader of my Chinese food blog left a message to request the English recipe of this Spiced Beef Shin. How can I miss to translate this recipe? It’s a popular Chinese appetizer and my favourite snack. Some Chinese restaurants would offer this famous dish before main course. They would replace beef shin with braised tofu or peanuts for the sake of price, of course. I used to cook some in advance and keep them in fridge for serving at any time. It can be a very popular party food too.

Ingredients:

400 gm beef shin
3 to 4 cloves garlic
4 slices old ginger
18 gm rock sugar
2 cups water
10 Sichuan pepper/Szechuan pepper (花椒)
1 star anise (八角)
1 Tbsp Shaoxing wine
4 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp dark soy sauce

Method:

Remove the connective tissue of beef shin if any in order to have softer texture after cooking. Blanch in boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain well.
Use a large saucepan and add all ingredients except beef shin. Bring to a boil. Add beef shin. When it boils again, slower heat to medium-low and simmer until softens. The sauce should cover the beef shin. If not, turn beef shin occasionally. Bear in mind that the cooking time is quite long, so you might like to use vacuum pot to save energy if you have one. Cook until sauce reduced and thickened. Remember to taste by yourself.
Let beef shin cool completely and chill in fridge. Then you can easily cut into thin slices. This dish can be served cold or reheat to warm. Serve on a platter and pour (warm) sauce over it.

Tips:

The sauce can be kept in fridge for one to two weeks.
Use the sauce to cook hard boiled eggs, chicken wings or peanuts. The taste of them is tremendously delicious too.

Meatballs with Pasta Recipe

I love cooking Angle Hair pasta. Not only does it taste good, but also quick to get it done, especially on a hectic day. The Angle Hair pasta I used in this recipe is fantastic, that only needs two minutes to cook until al dente. This dish Meatballs with Angle Hair Pasta is my daughter’s favourite. When it comes to cooking this quick dish, it won't take too long to prepare fresh meatballs. Sometimes I just use the meatballs that cooked in advance and kept in freezer. Then grab them out to cook in the last minute. The pasta absorbs all the flavours of the sauce, going really well the juicy meatballs.

Serves 3

Ingredients:

200 gm Angle Hair pasta
500 gm minced beef
2 cans Italian diced tomato with sauce
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 chili, chopped
Parmesan cheese, to taste
basil (fresh or dried), to taste
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste

Marinade:

1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp mustard
1 to 2 stalks rosemary, chopped leaves
1 stalk oregano, (chopped leaves or 1 tsp dried)
1 cup breadcrumbs

Method:

Mix minced beef with marinade and leave for 15 minutes. Spoon out mixture and use two palms to shape balls.
Heat oil in a frying pan or saucepan over medium-high heat. Add meatballs and cook, turning occasionally, until well browned and cooked through. Set aside.
Add some more oil to sauté garlic and chili until aromatic. Stir in basil and add diced tomato with sauce. Bring it to a boil. Slower heat and simmer for 10 minutes until sauce thickens. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
Meanwhile, use a large saucepan to prepare boiling water. Add salt in water. Follow the instructions on the packet to cook Angle Hair pasta. Mine only needs two minutes of cooking to al dente. Drain well and toss to combine with meatballs and tomato sauce. Serve hot, topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

Tips:

The breadcrumbs are to help the beef stick together. I only used 3 slices of white bread, trimmed crust. Dice and process them in a food processor. Then pop them in a preheated 160C (320F) oven for a few minutes. The baked breadcrumb is wonderful for mixing meatballs.
Chili and tomato are “good friends” to make your pasta taste heavenly.
I bought the canned Italian tomato with sauce at supermarket. Very handy.

Fried Rice with Minced Beef

Here’s my favourite dish for all seasons, Fried Rice with Minced Beef (生炒牛肉飯), which is also a very popular one-dish-meal offered at any Chinese restaurants. The rice has to be sty-fried really hot. Having combined with the fresh minced beef and crunchy lettuce, this dish is very healthy and nutritious. When it comes to frying rice, I love adding heaps of meat and vegetables. It’s also suitable for elderly or young kids, helping them intake more protein and veggies.

Serves 3
Ingredients:

200 gm minced beef
150 gm iceberg lettuce, shredded
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 spring onions, finely chopped
2 bowls white rice, preferably leftover and reheated
2 tsp light soy sauce
salt, to taste
sugar, to taste

Marinade:

1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp cornflour
1/4 tsp chicken powder
2/3 tsp sugar
1 tsp water
1/2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp shaoxing wine
a pinch of pepper

Method:

Marinate minced beef with marinade for 15 minutes.
Heat oil over medium. Cook beef until 80% done. Set aside.
Add some oil again. Stir in beaten egg. Stir constantly until 60% done. Add rice, preferably reheated beforehand as it’d shorter the cooking time. Quickly stir fry evenly. Sprinkle salt and sugar to taste. When the rice is really hot thoroughly, add light soy sauce.
Toss in beef. Continue to cook and combine well. Add shredded lettuce and spring onion until softens. If you’d like to taste the crunchy veggie, then don’t fry too long. Serve hot.

Note:

You might like to take a look at my previous post: Tips on Frying Yummy Rice.

Steak & Red Wine Casserole

Sometimes it’s quite cool in the night down under here because it’s still in winter. While I baked this dish, Steak & Red Wine Casserole, the whole kitchen was warm up. What a comfort food that ties our family together we enjoyed. While enjoying this yummy dish, we're chatting over trivial and interesting things we have come across in the day. Our family especially likes the steak casserole going with mashed potatoes!

Steak Casserole Ingredients:

650g blade steak, cut into bite-size cubes
1/2 cup plain flour
2 onions, cut into wedges
2 stalks celery, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 cup red wine
2 tbsp tomato paste
400g (1 can) diced tomatoes
30g butter
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup water
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Mashed Potatoes Ingredients:

2 to 3 potatoes, cubed
1/4 cup milk, hot
20g butter

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C (356F). Lightly coat beef with flour, shaking off any excess.
Heat half of butter and half of oil in a frying pan or flameproof casserole pan on medium, until sizzling. Cook beef in batches for 2 minutes each side, until browned. Remove from pan.
Heat remaining oil in same pan on medium. Sauté onion and garlic until aromatic. Add celery and cook for 8-10 minutes, until golden. Add tomato paste. Increase heat to high. Add wine and simmer for 1-2 minutes, until reduced by half.
Toss beef back to pan. Stir in tomato and 1 cup of water. Bring to boil. Transfer to casserole, cover and bake for about 1 hour, stirring after 30 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until sauce thickens. Season with salt, sugar and Worcestershire sauce to taste.
Meanwhile, cover potato with cold, salted water. Bring to boil and cook for 10-15 minutes, until tender. Drain well. Mash with butter and milk. Sprinkle salt and pepper to taste.
Stir parsley into casserole. Serve with mash.

Stir-fried Broccoli with Beef

I just feel the look of broccoli is very appealing and beautiful. Needless to mention its rich nutrients. Yet, not many people like to eat it. In Chinese cooking, people seldom cook them in water then eat because it tastes quite dull.. If it is stir-fried with meat and seasoned with delicious sauce, it could be turned into a super star on the table. On the menu of Chinese banquet, broccoli could be highly possible there as broccoli is quite expensive in Hong Kong, that is categorized as a luxury vegetable.

Ingredients:

300g broccoli
120g beef (beef fillet or skirt steak)
1 tsp minced garlic
2 to 3 slices ginger
a dash Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
1/4 cup chicken stock

Marinade:

2 tsp light soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornflour
1 tsp water

Seasoning:

1 tsp light soy sauce
2 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp sugar
2 tbsp water
a dash sesame oil

Method:

Roughly cut broccoli into pieces. Peel stems as picture shown and put aside. Add 1/2 tsp salt into boiling water. Blanch broccoli for 3 minutes by adding the stems first, then followed by the flowers. Drain well. Set aside. Slice beef thinly and marinate for 15 minutes.
Heat oil in a wok or frying pan over medium-high heat and sauté beef until 80% done. Set aside.
Add oil, sauté ginger and garlic. Toss in the broccoli. Sprinkle wine and salt, stir fry for a while. Pour chicken stock. Cover and cook until broccoli softens.
Toss beef back to wok. Add seasoning. Quickly stir and cook to your preferred consistency. Dish up. Serve with hot rice.

Note:

Don’t overcook the broccoli, lest they turn yellow and the nutrient inside would be destroyed. Let them just cooked with a bit crunch, with green outside.

Beef Fillet with Mushroom and Red Wine Sauce

Although I don’t drink wine, I really love cooking with red wine. The red wine brings out all the best flavours of meat, especially with beef. To me, it was a successful experiment of cooking beef fillets topped with red wine sauce using this Cabernet Sauvignon 2000 because this dish completely pleased my whole family in 2000. Well, this red wine was a gift from a travel agent when I bought air-tickets for my family back to Hong Kong. I stored the red wine in my pantry immediately after taking from the travel agent and didn’t touch it until now.

I can’t describe how delicious this red wine sauce was. The sour taste of Balsamic vinegar cut through the beef making you feel more craving. So be cautious!

Steak Fillet with Mushroom and Red Wine Sauce

Ingredients:

3 to 4 steak fillets
1 onion, shredded
250 gm button mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp crushed garlic
1 Tbsp parsley, chopped
2 tsp thyme, chopped

3/4 cup dry red wine
1/4 cup chicken stock (or beef stock)
1 1/2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp seeded mustard
3 Tbsp thickened cream
A pinch of black pepper

Thickening:

1 1/2 tsp cornflour
1 Tbsp water

Seasonings:

2 Tbsp light soy sauce
2 Tbsp cooking wine
1 tsp mustard

Steak Fillet with Mushroom and Red Wine Sauce Procedures

Method:

Rinse steak fillets and drain well. Absorb moist with kitchen paper. Marinate with the seasonings for 15 minutes. Set aside.
Melt butter over medium heat in a frying-pan. Sauté onion until translucent. Add crushed garlic and mushrooms. Cook until all ingredients soften. Stir in parsley and thyme.
Pour in red wine, chicken stock and Balsamic vinegar. Bring it to a boil. Slow heat to low and simmer.
While cooking red wine sauce, heat up a non-stick pan. Add oil and cook marinated steak fillets to your preferred doneness. Place on a warm plate, covered.
Turn up the heat to high and cook red wine sauce. Add seeded mustard, black pepper and cream. Bring it to a boil. Stir in thickening and cook to your preferred consistency. Pour sauce onto the cooked steak fillets. Serve hot.