Beef and black bean stir-fry
25 min · 33 g protein · 304 cals / serving
The takeaway-shop favourite done fast at home: tender, velvety strips of beef seared hot in the wok with crunchy capsicum, onion, broccoli and snow peas, all coated in a glossy, savoury black bean sauce with garlic, ginger and a little chilli. On the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
Beef
- 500 g top round steak, rump or topside, sliced thinly across the grain
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 3 tsp cornstarch, cornflour
Sauce
- 80 g black bean sauce, store-bought
- 3 tsp oyster sauce
- 80 ml water
- 1 tsp cornstarch, cornflour
- 2 tsp canola oil, divided
Vegetables
- 1 onion, in wedges
- 1 red capsicum red bell pepper, in chunks
- 1 green capsicum bell pepper, in chunks
- 1 large head broccoli, in small florets
- 150 g snow peas, trimmed
- 3 cloves garlic, chopped
- a 4 cm piece ginger, finely grated
- 1 long red chilli red chili pepper, sliced
To serve
- 2 spring onions green onions, sliced
Steps
- Toss the beef with the soy sauce and cornflour and leave for 10 minutes while you prepare the vegetables.
- Stir together the black bean sauce, oyster sauce, water and cornflour.
- Heat half the oil in a wok over the highest heat until smoking. Stir-fry the beef in two batches, 1–2 minutes each, until browned outside and just pink inside. Tip onto a plate.
- Add the rest of the oil and the onion, both capsicums and broccoli. Stir-fry 3 minutes, then add the snow peas and a splash of water and toss 1–2 minutes more, until the broccoli is bright green and tender-crisp.
- Add the garlic, ginger and chilli and stir-fry 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Pour in the sauce, return the beef and its juices, and toss for 1 minute until everything is glossy and the sauce bubbles. Scatter with spring onion and serve.
Good to know
Why coat the beef in cornflour?
It is the takeaway trick called velveting: the thin coating protects the meat in the fierce heat, keeps it tender and helps the sauce cling.
My stir-fry goes watery.
The wok is too crowded or not hot enough. Cook the beef in batches, keep the heat at maximum, and add the vegetables only once the oil is smoking.
What to serve with it?
Steamed jasmine rice or egg noodles. For a lighter bowl, serve it over cauliflower rice or a pile of extra steamed greens.
Per
- Calories
- 86
- Protein
- (45%)
- 9 g
- Fat
- (26%)
- 2 g
- Carbohydrates
- (30%)
- 7 g
- of which sugar
- 3 g
- Fiber
- 1 g
- Sodium
- 424 mg
More meals
Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. General guidance, not medical advice. Talk to your prescriber. How
As written, 1217 kcal goes into the pot and 1662 g of ingredients comes out as about 1420 g of food: 86 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.