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Cooking Asian

My local Chinese takeaway has just lost a customer – My Chinese Crispy Sweet Chilli Beef

I am not a huge fan of Chinese takeaways to be honest. The grease, the salt, the sugar, and Lord knows what seasonings they use, plus some of their questionable hygiene standards just gives me the heebie jeebies. I have tried so many, from the local takeaways to the extremely posh restaurants, and nah, something is just not right about the food. For the sake of not being a picky eater, I have managed to lock down just one Chinese dish which I order all the time, and I mean all the time. King Prawn Fried Rice. Even at that, at some places it is not so great.

Last Saturday, I was watching the show Saturday Kitchen and there were two Chefs competing in a light hearted Chilli challenge. One of them was Thomasina Miers, someone I admire so much for the way she has brought Mexican street food to London in a big way, with her chain of restaurants Wahaca. She truly is my inspiration, because one day by His Grace my Nigerian street food restaurants like Wahaca and even better will be scattered all over the place. If you watch Food Network, she presents the show Mexican Food made simple. I can’t remember what Thomasina cooked on the show, but the dish of the other Chef struck a chord in me because it was a Chinese dish I truly detest from takeaways and restaurants. Chinese Sweet Chilli Beef.

Once the show was over, I said boy, I am going to try this, and I am glad I did. I made this dish a few days ago for a friend from out of town who was visiting with her family. Staring at the pan when I was done, and tasting it like 10 times, I couldn’t believe I made a Chinese dish that could taste so good and I mean real, real good. As they were facing a long drive back home, I kinda made this dish in a hurry, plus it was already getting dark when I started cooking and we emptied the pan for dinner and takeaway, so I couldn’t take pictures. Yesterday evening, I decided to make this dish again, all calmly and relaxed. It was even better than the last dish, by miles, and that one was really good. I am now sooooo inspired to try many more Chinese dishes, my local takeaway has lost a customer. Full Stop. I spent half the amount of one bowl of takeaway making this, and I have enough leftovers for 2 more meals. Think of your budget on Chinese, and tell yourself, enough, I can do better at home. Lol.

If you have had the shredded beef and green pepper sauce served at Nigerian parties, this is it, but with more va va voom.

You will need

400 – 500g of Frying Steaks – for my readers who buy meat in the market from butchers, you simply need a slab of meat, sliced thinly.

2 – 3 Carrots

1 Green Pepper

2 eggs

Olive oil

1 piece of red chilli or ata rodo (scotch bonnets/habanero pepper)

1 green chilli

Spring onions

Ginger

Red Onions

Dark Soy Sauce

2 – 3 tablespoons of Corn Flour

Water

Sweet Chilli Sauce

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon Curry Powder

1 teaspoon Dried Thyme

1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper – dry pepper

2 teaspoons Jumbo seasoning powder or Knorr chicken cubes

Salt

Coriander

How To

If you are buying meat from the butcher, especially in Nigeria, where our beef can be very tough, whack it a bit with a rolling pin, to flatten and tenderise it a little. If you are buying meat from the supermarket, make sure it reads Frying Steak on the packet.

1. Cut the meat into rectangular strips and set aside.

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2. Break two eggs in a bowl, and season with curry powder, thyme, garlic powder, seasoning cube, salt, dry pepper and whisk. When it has fully combined, add 1 tablespoon of corn flour and whisk. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: you will face some resistance at first whisking in the corn flour, but this will disappear with further whisking. Add another tablespoon of corn flour and whisk.

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3. Pour this eggy mixture onto the meat and combine with your hands, making sure the meat is properly coated. You may wish to sprinkle in another tablespoon of corn flour, if the mixture is too watery. Leave this in the fridge for 30 minutes and proceed to chopping the vegetables.

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4. Julienne the Carrots.

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This is just a fancy word for cutting carrots into thin, long strips. Do the same for the green pepper, red onion, chillies and ginger, only that you will have to slice the ginger much thinner. No one wants to bite into a chunk of ginger. Chop the spring onions in rings and set aside.

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Pour a decent amount of Olive oil into a small pot and turn the heat to high. You are going to deep fry the meat, so gauge the volume of olive oil. The key is to use a small pot, so the oil can be deep enough, without having to use too much oil.

5. When the oil is hot enough, place the strips of meat into the pot one by one, till there’s no more space. As the meat fries, the coating will turn into pastry, and change from white to golden brown. Once it is golden brown, take it out of the oil and drain on kitchen paper. Fry all the strips of meat.

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Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: be careful to fry the strips individually. If you drop them into the pot in clumps, they will stick together. See below.

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6. Heat up your Wok or Deep frying pan with 1 cooking spoon of the oil you just fried the meat in, add all the chopped ingredients and stir fry, making sure you shake the pan every few seconds, or you stir with a frying spoon.

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7. Once the onions have turned translucent, add the fried meat and stir, then add soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce and let it cook for 1 – 2 minutes.

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Then readjust again with soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. At this point I was just dipping the bottle of each sauce slightly into the pan and tasting as I went along. So, I didn’t measure. Soy sauce and Sweet Chilli sauce have a personal preference in terms of their concentration in food, so let your taste buds guide you.

8. With each addition of both sauces, let it cook for about a minute before readjusting. Stir the beef with the vegetables and add 1 teaspoon or 1 cube of knorr chicken cubes and keep cooking. Keep adjusting with the soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce to your preference. Be careful it doesn’t burn. Turn down the heat if you have to. Dooney’s Kitchen Tip: by adding more of both sauces to the pan, the beef begins to cook in the liquid of both sauces, plus the water content of the vegetables, creating a glistening sludge around the strips of meat. 

SAM_8434

One of the things, well two of the things I don’t like about Chinese cooking is soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce, which is why i started using both sauces sparingly at first, but I found that by adding more, it enhanced the taste of the dish, and I was loving it. Be careful though. Taste very often, so you don’t add too much and overpower the dish. You still want to taste the vegetables.

9. The recipe I used says stop here, but nah, I wanted more sauce. So I added half a cup of water, just so I could get a more liquidy sauce, plus the pastry around the meat, will soften with the addition of water, and absorb the sauce, making it taste even better. Taste for salt, I doubt if you will need to add more, I definitely didn’t. The soy sauce already contains salt, plus you added seasoning cube much earlier. Stir and let this cook till you see the liquid sauce heat up.

Add chopped coriander and stir. Leave it to cook for another minute or so, and take off the heat.

SAM_8438

better view of the sauce

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see the difference, adding the water makes? Now you have juicy and tender meats, plus crunchy vegetables, all in a rich, delicious sauce. Yum

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the contrast of colours – the orange of the carrots, the deep green of the coriander, the green pepper strips – art in a Wok

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From start to finish, this dish took less than 45 minutes. Including chopping and all. If you order Chinese, you will definitely spend more money, and you will wait at least 30 minutes for it to be delivered.

Feast on the pictures and be inspired………………

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has your takeaway ever looked this good?

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uhmmmm, yum

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Eat straight from the Wok. Remember to boil some rice, Spaghetti or Indomie noodles, and treat yourself to a fresh, homemade, healthy and delicious dinner. Remember to eye the pamphlet of your takeaway as you are sitting down to eat this. Lol Chinese who? Lol

SAM_8450

I boiled a packet of Indomie Noodles and sprinkled in a little chopped coriander when it was done. I have never tried that before, and I really enjoyed the difference in taste.

SAM_8508

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Treat yourself, treat your friends and family to a spectacular dish that requires minimal effort

 


78 Comments

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FILED UNDER: Cooking Asian
TAGGED WITH:
Dooney

About Dooney

Dooney is the blogger, recipe developer and photographer for Dooney's Kitchen. I spend my days trying to figure out creative ways to redefine Nigerian food, either by creating a new dish itself using ingredients in ways that have never been used before, or changing the approach to Nigerian cooking using kitchen gadgets.

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Comments

  1. AvatarOwnyee! says

    September 29, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    By now Dunni, you should know I’m a bona fide stalker of this blog.Lol! I just made this today totalling 4 recipes of yours in one week!
    I must say it came out great! I tweaked it a lil by boiling the meat just a teeny weeny bit before I marinaded it just to get out some stock which I readded towards the end.
    It was awesome! Will def make it again. Thanks Dunni!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      September 29, 2013 at 10:10 pm

      You are welcome Ownyee. Stalk away please

      Reply
      • AvatarOwnyee! says

        September 30, 2013 at 11:36 am

        Hi Dunni! Whereabouts in the U.S are you located?

        Reply
        • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

          September 30, 2013 at 11:41 am

          Hi Ownyee, I live in the UK

          Reply
  2. AvatarMz Socially Awkward.... says

    September 30, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Dooney, I’ve restarted my weight-loss program and “kent” fall into temptation. But this your chilli beef recipe … Lord have mercy on a girl with good intentions…

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      September 30, 2013 at 6:53 pm

      I am sure you and some hot skinny woman that will make all women jealous. Eat bare. Fall into temptation away. Lol

      Reply
  3. AvatarBarbara says

    October 7, 2013 at 5:02 pm

    Hi Dunni, found your blog on Friday through bellanaija and i must say that I’m totally in love with it.

    Made this dish on Sunday for my fam. They loved it! It was simply delicious!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      October 7, 2013 at 9:40 pm

      Thank you Barbara. Well done. Family enjoying your food is the best thing about cooking

      Reply
  4. AvatarHer Royal Stunningness says

    November 27, 2013 at 10:07 am

    Dunni oooo!!! I love you!!! This is the best Chinese I have ever made! Made this for my boyfriend and his brother and they ate every last bit… paired it with basmati rice and plantain… your cooking will see me to the alter o!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      November 27, 2013 at 10:41 am

      Wonderful to read. If he is the one, you are altar bound. Well done girl

      Reply
  5. AvatarBola says

    December 30, 2013 at 4:13 am

    I tried it today and it came out good. Thanks

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      December 30, 2013 at 12:27 pm

      Lovely to read. You are welcome

      Reply
  6. AvatarCeecee says

    January 1, 2014 at 3:15 pm

    Babeeeee,
    I salute you. Happy new year.
    This is the second recipie I’m trying from your blog-I am eating as I type this as I don’t want to forget.
    The sauce turned out great (as you may have guessed :)).
    I grated the ginger though as I love love ginger and it blended evenly with the other ingredients. I even added it to the egg mixture for the beef. I also added chicken stock instead of water.
    Thanks girl.
    Back to my meal now.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      January 1, 2014 at 4:02 pm

      Aaaaw, wonderful to read on New Year’s day. Well done. Enjoy your meal

      Reply
  7. AvatarBola says

    January 15, 2014 at 6:01 pm

    I tried it using pork chops and it came out great

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      January 15, 2014 at 7:01 pm

      Ooooh, with pork, it really will be delicious. Nice one

      Reply
  8. Avatarjustyna says

    January 17, 2014 at 8:31 pm

    Wowwwww U super rock Dunni!I just tried this recipe and it came out very well.my hubby and mum really loved it.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      January 17, 2014 at 10:06 pm

      Beautiful. Well done o, and enjoy the praise.

      Reply
  9. AvatarAdeola says

    January 22, 2014 at 1:42 pm

    Just tried out this recipe and it was fab! Thanks once again xx

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      January 22, 2014 at 1:54 pm

      Wonderful to read. Well done.

      Reply
  10. AvatarChinwe says

    February 3, 2014 at 11:06 am

    Doonz of the LORD. Just got a hermes handbag from hubby’s visiting friend from Nigeria for making dis Chinese. Boiled my Basmati rice in coconut milk n added carrots n peas. Den chopped cooked gizzards n added to d sauce,buh followed d recipe from start to finish. U knw how we roll sis. Tank u again hubby always loves inviting people home cos he knows his wife will neva disappoint all Tanx to bin a gud student of Dooneyrooney. Btw I made d native rivers seafood soup yday regretted not making much. Made it for hubby homecoming d man finish d thing I dint even ve a taste of it. Still ve d seafood thou in d freezer so I will make for just moi. Tanx Sis for giving food a meaning. GOD bless you Grtly Luvya scatter Ooooooshey

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      February 3, 2014 at 9:03 pm

      Really? Please tell the person to buy two items next time. Well done o. Make more of the native soup, please. You need to enjoy it

      Reply
  11. AvatarEstella says

    February 27, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    I’ve got to try this! Pls what brand of Sweet Chilli Sauce do you use?

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      February 27, 2014 at 4:05 pm

      Please do. I use Blue Dragon

      Reply
  12. Avatarinem says

    April 3, 2014 at 11:51 am

    Dunni amazing doesn’t describe you. Honestly God bless you real good. Tried this last night, amazeballs doesn’t describe the meal. Next time will use beef or chicken stock so I can have more sauce but all d same thank you.

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      April 4, 2014 at 12:16 pm

      Aaaaaaw, bless you. Thanks. Yes, use stock for more sauce. Well done

      Reply
  13. AvatarBennie Egbedinni says

    April 18, 2014 at 10:28 am

    Just checking this out today being good friday.cant try it now but this is definitely easter Monday’s dish and you definitely will get a feed back!

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      April 19, 2014 at 7:22 pm

      Please do and let me know how it goes. All the best

      Reply
  14. Avatarakande nike says

    May 27, 2014 at 7:55 pm

    Hi Dunni…you are doing such a great job here. once i need new ideas..once am here..its sorted…God bless you
    meanwhile please i need to try this but with fish..how do i go about doing that?

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      May 27, 2014 at 8:42 pm

      Hmmmmn, if you are going to do this with fish, use very firm fish or fish steak, otherwise it would break and fall apart

      Reply
  15. Avatarmeyia says

    August 12, 2014 at 6:20 pm

    God bless u.dooney Is dis diffent from d sauce dey use in parties cos that one is more watery

    Reply
    • dooneyrooneydooneyrooney says

      August 13, 2014 at 12:26 pm

      Roughly the same thing. The Nigerian one has more green pepper

      Reply
  16. AvatarKiiaraneth says

    February 4, 2015 at 12:53 am

    Most so called chinese food in takeaway places tend to be extremely westernised. Take it from a native 😉 the authentic ones will have deep fried intestines, braised or steamed offal and all sorts of other more interesting dishes. Each region of china has distinct cooking styles that they are famous for.

    Plus, it’s a very economical style of eating. In half an hour, I will make one main dish with some sort of protein in, two vegetable side dishes and a pot of (usually) herbal bone soup to go with rice. For the main dish, only a handful or so of meat is used for two people.

    Reply
  17. AvatarHamira Tamiko El-Zakir says

    May 20, 2015 at 7:47 pm

    yaayy!! I tried this out and took it along with chicken teriyaki stirfry on a road trip.long story short, it was wolfed down in minutes with spaghetti. Fam and friends enjoyed it! cnt wait to try out your smoked turkey stirfry. Merci Beaucoup!!

    Reply
  18. Avatarjolly says

    May 31, 2015 at 3:05 pm

    Dooney! I too gbadun you. U r simply amazing. I tried this out n even though i left out some ingredients, twas still great. I also tried ur puff puff recipe yestday and it was sôooooo good. Thank you so much

    Reply
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