Kylie Kwong's beef stir fry - with a bit of Em's twist

I love to cook so I cook regularly, but there comes a time when I need to look around for new recipes. I think I have mentioned in my previous posts that my dearest husband loves beef. One night, after a long train ride and walk after work, I stared at a pack of fresh stir fry cut beef at the Supermarket, and decided to google recipes for a beef stir fry. I found Kylie Kwong's beef stir fry recipe from someone's blog, and it's one of the best recipes I've ever found. My family normally uses sweet sauce, soy sauce and chicken stock as seasoning, and after awhile I feel that everything tastes the same. I dare to say that this recipe from Kylie Kwong is the most delicious Chinese beef dish I've ever tasted, and I was so proud to have cooked this. I however, didn't have one sauce listed in her recipe, which is black vinegar, and I decided to improvise a little hence I added 'with a bit of Em's twist' for this post. You've got to try it to believe it. 

Ingredients

Half kilo of beef strips - stir fry cut

5 sticks of spring onion - cut the root, discard. Cut to 2 cm long pieces

Two table spoons of minced ginger

Two table spoons of minced garlic

Olive oil

Xiao Xing cooking wine

Oyster sauce

light soy sauce

White pepper

Sugar

Salt

Wok

Cooking method

In a bowl, marinade beef with a cup of Xiao Xing wine and a table spoon of salt. Mix well, cover the bowl with glad wrap and refrigerate for half an hour.

After half an hour, heat a splash of oil in a wok on high heat. Cook beef in small batches. Don't cook too many beef strips at one time as the meat will release liquid and start to boil rather than fry. Ideally, the cooked meat should be brown and as dry as possible. Once a batch is cooked, transfer cooked meat to a bowl, wipe the beef juice in the wok dry with paper towel, heat oil for the next batch, and continue until you've cooked all the beef. Once all beef strips are cooked, set aside.

Heat a good splash of oil in the wok on medium heat, cook garlic and ginger until fragrant, stir continuously to prevent garlic from burning. Once fragrant, add in the spring onion, stir for half a minute, and then add the beef. Stir well. Add a generous splash of oyster sauce, xiao xing wine, light soy sauce, a dash of white pepper, and a tea spoon of sugar. Cook and mix well until all the sauces and seasoning are combined. Taste the balance of flavour of the sauce, and adjust flavour accordingly. I found that I always have to add another tea spoon of sugar to reach the balance, but follow your instinct and common sense. If in fear, just add a little bit of the seasoning / sauce to test the flavour further. 

Serve beef with rice and accompaniments. I usually serve this dish with simple stir fry of Chinese vegetables.