GLUTEN-FREE STIR FRIED BEEF
Everyone does a stir-fry, I imagine. No doubt you have your own favourite method or two that work a treat. But I’d like to share this Gluten-Free Stir-Fried Beef recipe I’ve been making recently.
I read somewhere (on the net, of course) that the best cut of beef to use in a stir-fry is flank or skirt steak, because the texture of the meat is so loose that it soaks up the sauce more readily than something like rump or sirloin.
I decided to put the idea to the test. And it does appear to hold up, with the openness of the meat carrying the sauce and the finely diced aromatics very nicely.
The only real essential is to cook it hot and fast, which means all the prepping has to be done well before you even look at the stove.
This is really a ‘note to self.’ You probably always do that.
Jan
GLUTEN-FREE STIR FRIED BEEF
Serves 3 - 4
Marinade
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon caster sugar
2 tablespoons gluten-free dark soy sauce or tamari
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon gluten-free cornflour
Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
500 gm flank or skirt steak, trimmed
Combine salt, sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, bicarbonate of soda and cornflour in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly.
Cut the flank steak along the grain into strips about 10 centimetres wide. Then cut the strips across the grain into slices 6 or 7 millimetres thick and add to the marinade.
Set aside for at least half an hour or, if possible, refrigerate overnight and bring to room temperature half an hour before cooking.
The Stir-Fry
2 tablespoons gluten-free dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry or mirin
3 tablespoons gluten-free oyster sauce
1 tablespoon caster sugar
3 tablespoons peanut oil
250 gm sugar snap peas, washed, dried and trimmed
1 large onion, halved and sliced into moons
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
1 red chilli, or more to taste, deseeded and minced
2 spring onions, chopped
Add the soy sauce, sherry or mirin, oyster sauce and sugar to a small bowl and stir to combine.
In another small bowl combine garlic, ginger and chilli.
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a wok over high heat until smoking.
Stir the beef to coat it with what remains of the marinade. Add half of the beef, spreading it into a single layer, and cook for about a minute without moving until lightly browned.
Toss and continue to cook for another minute or so, stirring frequently, until barely cooked through. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Repeat the process with another tablespoon of oil and the remaining beef.
Wipe the wok clean with kitchen paper.
Add the remaining tablespoon of oil, and heat until smoking. Add the sugar snap peas and onion and cook, tossing frequently, until the sugar snaps are bright green and lightly charred.
Add garlic, ginger and chilli and cook, stirring, until fragrant. Keeping the heat high, add the mixture of sauces and cook, tossing constantly for a minute or so until the sauce bubbles and thickens.
Return the beef to the wok and toss for another minute or two to heat through and combine.
Transfer to a serving dish, top with spring onions and serve immediately with rice.