Tender Beef with Coriander (No Stir-fry)
Tender Beef with Coriander … perfectly cooked beef, chocked full of veggie goodness. Tender, juicy, packed with fresh veggie crunch and tossed with a mouth-watering special sauce. Simple easy recipe and no stir frying. Enjoy.
Servings: 7 pax
Ingredients
Ginger onion water
- 3 slices of ginger
- 2 spring onion bulbs
- Half a bowl of water
Beef and marinate
- 1 kg beef chuck or flank
- 5 tbsp light soy sauce
- 3 tbsp oyster sauce
- 2 tsp pepper
- 3 tbsp sesame oil
- 5 tbsp ginger onion water
- 5 tbsp corn flour
Special sauce
- 10 cloves garlic
- 7 sprig spring onions
- 2 red chillies
- 5 tbsp chilli pepper flakes
- 5 tbsp sesame seeds
- 7 tbsp soya sauce
- 7 tbsp fish sauce
- 5 tbsp black vinegar (浙江黑醋）
- 1 tbsp brown or granulated sugar
- 200 ml smoking hot oil
Salad vegetables
- 1 large carrot
- 1 big bunch of coriander
- *Optional - 1 green chilli plus 1 red chilli
Instructions
Ginger onion water
- Prepare three slices of ginger roughly cut and two spring onion bulbs, smushed. Put the cut roots into half a bowl of water and let it steep for ~30min. (Ginger onion water helps to reduce any gami-ness and gives a subtle aromatic zing to the marinade.)
Beef and marinate
- Give the meat a quick wash and slice it thinly (~ 1/4 inch thick) against the grain. Remove any thick sinews that would make the beef tough.
- Marinate the beef with 5 tbsp light soya sauce, 3 tbsp oyster sauce, 2 tsp black pepper and 3 tbsp sesame oil. Once well mixed, add 5 tbsp of the ginger onion water and mix till the water is absorbed. Finally add 5 tbsp cornstarch and mix thoroughly so that the cornstarch is fully combined. Set aside to marinate for at least 30min.
Special sauce
- To prepare the vegetables for the sauce, cut the red chillies, mince the garlic and chop the spring onions finely and then transfer all into a large bowl.
- Add 5 tbsp of chilli pepper flakes, 5 tbsp of white sesame seeds to the condiments and scald well with 200ml smoking hot oil. *Be careful* and *go slow as you are handling the hot oil*. Set the condiments aside and let it cool for 20-30 minutes.
- Once cooled, sieve out the oil from the condiments. The hot oil is used to release the flavours of the condiments but it will not be used in the sauce so sieve it out. The fragrant chilli and onion oil is perfect for making saucy noodles or other stir fry dishes so set it aside and keep it for other use.
- Once the oil is removed, season the scalded condiments with 7 tbsp fish sauce, 7 tbsp light soya sauce, 5 tbsp black vinegar and 1 tbsp of brown sugar. Mix thoroughly and the sauce is ready.
Salad vegetables
- For the salad vegetables, chop up a generous bunch of coriander and shred one large carrot. Optional: for more color, add in 1 red chilli and 1 green chilli, sliced. Set aside.
Cooking the beef
- Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add in the beef slices and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly to keep the beef from clumping together. Do this in batches to allow the beef to parboil evenly. *Do not overcook*
- Once the beef slices are cooked, add in the coriander, shredded carrots, cut chillies and top it off with the prepared special sauce. Toss exuberantly to mix well and let the beef soak up all that yummy sauciness. Serve on hot rice. Enjoy.
Video
Notes
If you like this recipe tutorial and like to see more, subscribe to my YouTube channel here.
#1 Cut of meat
To get that succulent juicy beef texture, I like to use either beef flank or beef chuck which both works well. Beef flank usually has a clearly defined grain which makes slicing more straightforward.
Beef chuck which is located near the shoulder and neck area of the cow has more connective tissue and may require more handling to remove any tough sinews. The grain also tends to look slightly varied so always check whilst slicing and make sure to cut against the grain.
#2 Cooking method
I love the cooking method of this Tender Beef with Coriander. Basically the beef is parboiled for a couple of minutes which keeps it tender, even when cooked in large quantities.
In comparison, I find stir frying the same large quantity of beef will require a lot more oil and it is harder IMHO to control the heat and therefore more challenging to stir fry the beef evenly! Parboiling does not require any oil and is a much simpler way.
I like to parboil in batches so that the beef can cook evenly without clumping together. The key is not to overcook; watch the timing well and you will always get that perfectly tender beef.
#3 Scalding the sauce condiments
This is an easy recipe but one part which requires careful handling is heating the oil (till smoking) to scald the condiments. Scalding the condiments with hot smoking oil helps to release and fuse all that lovely flavours which makes for a delicious tossing sauce. To keep oil splutter to a minimum, I like to scald repetitively in small pours and then leave the oil to cool (watch the recipe vid@3:00 min to see how it is done).
This Tender Beef with Coriander actually uses minimal oil as the oil is separated out once it is cooled. I love the fact that I can make a huge plate of this beef using very little oil. When the oil is cool enough, I sieve it out (at least 95%!) and keep it for other use. The sieved oil is full of chilli, garlic and onion fragrance and great for making saucy noodles or even stir frying vegetables. What is left will be just the beautifully scalded condiments which are packed with flavour, perfect for making our quintessential special sauce.
#4 Salad veggies
I love coriander and I added it most generously in this dish. I also tossed in shredded carrots and red & green cut chillies for that extra color and crunch. In a way, this Tender Beef with Coriander is very much like a beef salad. You can absolutely add or substitute the salad vegetables with what you like. Kale, cucumbers, rocket arugula even bean sprouts or any type of salad mix you prefer will work well. Just make sure like making any salad, the greens are properly washed and dried, fresh and not soggy before adding in.
#5 Make ahead
This Tender Beef with Coriander is easy and can be cooked in a jiffy because a lot of the prep work can be done ahead. I typically like to marinate the beef overnight, prep all the vegetables and make the special sauce the day before. On the day itself, just before serving I simply boil the beef, toss everything together and serve. Simple, quick and yumz!
#6 Storage
This Tender Beef with Coriander keeps well for 1-2 days stored airtight and chilled in the refrigerator. Just before consuming, take the beef out from the fridge and let it sit out for 10-15 minutes. *Do not microwave or heat up the beef* as that would overcook the meat and make it tough. We like to cook fresh rice or noodles and ladle on the beef like a salad. Chilled beef salad on freshly cooked warm rice or noodles tastes delicious. Rarely but this is how we eat it when there are ever any leftovers!