Even Faster Black Bean Beef…

Back in 2011, I posted a 30 minute recipe for Beef in Black Bean Sauce. Back in 2011, not many of ye paid any attention to anything I cooked or posted about. Shame on you. But, now that you are older and, obviously, wiser (You are reading this are you not?), I am very happy to present you with a simpler, even faster to prepare, Beef in Black Bean Sauce.

Back in the day, I had a more elaborate ingredients list. Now, I am more of a purist (I didn’t have any ginger or chilli in the press). Here’s my very fancy ingredients shot. I didn’t do this stuff back in ’11. Since then, I have become more adept at standing on the kitchen table and managing to keep my feet out of the photographs.

I was wearing slippers and had to cut them out of the shot.

As the girls have grown up, I was cooking for two (I’m doing more of that these days).

Ingredients (Clockwise from 1:00)

• A tablespoon of cornflour (corn starch)
• 1.5 tablespoons of fermented black beans
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tablespoons of rice wine
• 3 tablespoons of light soy sauce
• 1.5 tablespoons of peanut oil
• 2 onions
• .5 kilo of fine Irish sirloin steak

Throw the beef into the freezer while you prepare the other ingredients. Add water to the beans to soften the beans and to remove the salt.

Don’t hang around. Pour boiling water on the beans.

Slice the onions and the garlic.

Note my authentic Chinese chopper. I have owned it for over two decades. They are a great investment.

Take the steak out and slice it thinly. The time in the freezer will help with this. Discard the fat bits.

That is quality beef. Look at the lovely colours.

Add the cornflour and half the oil to the beef and stir to combine.

This helps get a nice soft beef with a bit of a crust when cooked.

Fry the onions in a wok until soft. Remove and reserve. Reheat the wok and add the beef in batches. We want to keep the wok very hot. When half the beef is cooked, add the garlic.

Delicious beef getting the garlic treatment.

Add the soy sauce and rice wine. Tip the wok to allow the alcohol burn off.

I love an action shot. This is an action shot!

Add the black beans and stir for a bit. Add back the onions and add a little water to get the sauce to the right consistency.

More than enough for two. This represents 20 minutes work.

Serve the beef over some Thai Fragrant rice.

This is one of the easiest, quickest and tastiest Oriental meals one can cook.

If you are like the Wife and I, the dish will be prepared, cooked and eaten inside half an hour. It took longer to take the photo of the ingredients while standing on the kitchen table. That’s progress, of sorts, I suppose.