This Chinese Beef with Garlic Sauce is a takeout classic. Tender, soft beef in an easy-to-make Chinese garlic sauce. This recipe uses easy-to-find ingredients to deliver a better than takeout dinner. Ready in under 30 minutes, it is an easy to make dinner that, when paired with rice and some stir-fried veg, makes a healthy Chinese weeknight meal that the whole family will love. Plus, get my tips for delicious tender beef, just like your favorite takeaway.
Cut the beef into thin strips across the grain.1 pound/ 454g beef (steaks)
Place in a non-metallic bowl and sprinkle with the baking soda. Stir gently to coat all of the beef. Then cover and let the beef marinate for 15 minutes.1 ½ tablespoon baking soda
Wash off the baking soda and rinse the beef several times. (See note 5)
Pat the beef dry with kitchen paper and set it to one side.
Next, make the sauce.
Add all the sauce ingredients into a large measuring cup/jug and stir well. Ensure the broth is cold to stop the cornstarch from clumping.½ cup/ 120ml chicken stock/broth1 tablespoon cornstarch1 tablespoon Chinese Cooking Wine1 tablespoon soy sauce1 tablespoon oyster sauce½ teaspoon sesame oilpinch pepper
For the stir fry
Remove the roots from the green onion and chop them into 2-inch (5cm) length chunks. Peel and thinly slice the garlic.3 green onions/spring onions4 clove garlic
Pour the oil into a heavy-based frying pan or wok and place over high heat.2 tablespoon vegetable oil
Add the green onions to the oil (be careful it can spit) and stir fry them for 1 minute to flavor the oil.
Add the beef to the pan and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add the sliced garlic and stir constantly for a minute.
Add the beansprouts, stir to combine, and cook for another minute.1 cup/ 100g beansprouts
Give the prepared sauce another stir, and then pour it into the pan. The sauce will thicken quickly, so stir it to coat your stir fry. (see note 7).
Serve immediately.
Notes
Chooseflank steak or skirt steak for a great value cut. Rump steak or sizzle steaks are also good choices.
Baking soda is also known as bicarb of soda, bicarbonate of soda, and sodium bicarbonate. Don't get it muddled with baking powder that won't tenderize your meat.
Green onions are also known as scallions in the US. And are known as Spring Onions in the UK and Australia.
Make sure the broth is cold; this will ensure that the cornstarch/cornflour dissolves fully and doesn't clump together. You can sub in veg broth or beef broth
You can buy Chinese cooking wine in the Asian section of the grocery store, but you can use dry sherry or sake if you can't find it. (See bulk of post for more information on Chinese Cooking Wine)
Make sure you wash the chicken really well to remove any traces of baking soda. It is incredible at tenderizing meat but has a terrible taste, so you want to remove it.
The sauce thickens quickly to that authentic thick Chinese takeout-style sauce. If you aren't a fan of the thick coating takeaway style sauces, you can reduce the quantity of cornstarch to ½ tablespoon if you just want a thinner sauce.