Fake-Away Orange Beef

It’s been a day (There is a name for this type of day. They are called Mondays.), and I want some comfort food. The local Asian takeout joint says it’s backed up, and the wait is an hour. Madam Badwolf commented that we can cook our own in that time.

Challenge Accepted!

Poking around the chill chest, I have a nice Sirloin steak; we’ll throw that on the counter to start defrosting. The veggie drawer has some interesting-looking oranges; I’ll use them just to be rid of them. I have some scallions; they’ll look good as a garnish, a red bell pepper that will add color and texture contrasts. And Spice, I NEED SPICE… In the pantry is a bag of dried Thai Birdseye peppers; I’ll need to be careful with those; they fall between a jalapeno and a habanero on the Scoville scale.

The actual process is pretty quick. While the steak is still semi-stiff, I’ll slice it down to strips 1/4″ thick and spread them to finish thawing. I’ll combine the orange zest, juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, rice vinegar, and ginger and put it to one side. The onion and pepper will be cut to strips approximately the size of the beef. (If it looks alike, it cooks alike.)

Once the beef is thawed, I’ll add to a coating mix of an egg, cornstarch, salt, and pepper, mixing to coat well, and spread in small batches to my preheated wok with ~3 tbsp of oil. This will fry until crispy, 5-6 minutes, I’ll turn 2-3 times and make sure the strips are separated.

Once the beef is done, I’ll move to a draining rig and add my onion, bell pepper, and dried peppers, frying until tender and crispy. Once we have the magical state of tender-crisp, I’ll add my sauce mixture and some orange zest, boil, simmer for a minute, then return the beef to the pan and toss to coat and heat through.

I’ll serve over rice, garnished with scallions and orange zest.

Crispy Orange Beef

Crispy, sweet, spicey beef in a sticky orange sauce

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, Sauce

Cuisine American, Asian

Servings 4 people

Calories 379 kcal

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 1 lb Sirloin Steak Cut to thin strips
• 5-10 ea Dried Chillies Sub with jalapenos, seeded, and striped
• 1/2 cup Orange Juice Two large oranges Juiced
• 1 tbsp Orange Zest One orange zested
• 3 tbsp Corn Starch Divided
• 1 ea Red Bell Pepper Washed, Seeded, striped to match beef
• 1 ea Onion Large, Peeled, sliced
• 6 tbsp Soy Sauce Low Sodium
• 3 tbsp Sugar Raw if possible
• 3 cloves Garlic Peeled Crushed
• 1 tbsp Ginger Grated
• 2 tsp Mirin Rice Vinegar
• 4 tbsp Neutral Oil
• Salt and Pepper To taste (1 pinch each)
• 1 ea Egg Large
• 1/2 bunch Scallions Washed, and sliced thinly (Garnish)

Instructions

 

• Place the beef on some kitchen towels and pat to dry.
• Mix 2 tbsp cornstarch, salt, and pepper with the egg and beat well
• Add the beef into the egg mixture and toss to coat well
• Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over high heat.
• Add the beef in small batches and fry until crispy 5-6 minutes, turn 2-3 times
• Remove the beef with a slotted spoon to a draining rig and keep it warm
• In the work or frying pan, make sure you have a small amount of oil left
• Reduce the heat to medium, and add the bell pepper, dried chilies, and onion. Fry for 2-4 minutes, looking for tender-crisp here
• While the peppers and onions are cooking, mix the orange zest, juice, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, rice vinegar, and ginger and put to one side. (save a small amount of zest for garnish)
• Pour the sauce over the veggies, return the heat to a boil, turn to a simmer, and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
• Add the beef back; stir for ~ 1 minute to heat through, and coat. The sauce should be thick and coat the beef.
• Serve with rice and garnish with scallions and some additional zest

Notes

It’s a quick and dirty, fake-away special.

Serve over rice.

To slice the beef thinly, freeze the steak for 30 minutes and use a very sharp knife.

Nutrition

Calories: 379kcalCarbohydrates: 23gProtein: 28gFat: 19gSaturated Fat: 3gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 70mgSodium: 1595mgPotassium: 552mgFiber: 1gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 409IUVitamin C: 19mgCalcium: 48mgIron: 3mg

Keyword Beef, Chili, Orange

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