Black Bean Sauce Stir-Fry

Method

1. Tenderise the beef. Mix with the water and bicarbonate of soda, leave 30 minutes, rinse thoroughly, pat dry, then toss with the cornflour, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine and oyster sauce.
2. Rinse and crush the black beans. Put them in a sieve and rinse under cold water for 20 seconds to wash off surface salt, then drain. Crush about half of them roughly with the flat of a knife and leave the rest whole. The crushed half melts into the sauce and the whole half gives you the salty bursts that make the dish.
3. Mix the sauce with the beans in it, cornflour last, and stir again before use.
4. Sear the beef and remove it. Very hot wok, a third of the oil, beef in one layer, undisturbed 60 to 90 seconds, then tossed briefly and out while slightly underdone.
5. Fry the aromatics hard. Add more oil, then the garlic and ginger for 20 to 30 seconds until intensely fragrant. This dish carries a lot of garlic and it should be visible in the finished sauce.
6. Cook the vegetables. Onion for 1 minute, then pepper for 1 minute. Both should keep their snap.
7. Sauce, thicken, return. Pour in the stirred sauce and boil 1 minute until glossy, then add the beef back with any juices, toss 30 seconds, scatter scallions and serve.

Variations

Same sauce, same method.

• Prawns in black bean sauce. 400 g peeled prawns, no bicarbonate of soda, velveted with just cornflour and seared 60 to 90 seconds. The most ordered version on most menus.
• Chicken in black bean sauce. 400 g sliced thigh, velveted without bicarbonate of soda.
• Tofu in black bean sauce. 400 g firm tofu, pressed, torn and fried crisp separately, folded in with the sauce at the end. Use vegetarian oyster sauce.
• Black bean with mixed vegetables. No protein, 600 g of mixed vegetables cooked hardest first.

Notes

• Whole beans, not jarred sauce. A jar of black bean sauce is mostly thickener and sugar. Dry salted beans cost very little, keep for years in a cupboard, and are the difference between this tasting homemade and tasting like a takeaway container.
• Rinse them, but briefly. Twenty seconds washes off the excess salt crust. A long soak washes away the flavour you bought them for.
• Do not add extra salt until you have tasted the finished sauce. The beans and both soy sauces bring plenty.
• Green pepper is traditional here rather than red, and its slight bitterness is a better foil for the fermented beans.

Ingredient substitutions

• Fermented black beans (douchi) are sold in bags or tubs at Asian grocers in Germany and Canada, usually near the dried goods, and are inexpensive. If you genuinely cannot find them, use 3 tablespoons of jarred black bean garlic sauce and cut the soy sauce and sugar by half, accepting a sweeter and less pungent result.
• Oyster sauce substitutes with vegetarian mushroom oyster-style sauce.
• Shaoxing wine substitutes with dry sherry, or stock plus a splash of rice vinegar.

Sources consulted

• RecipeTin Eats: Beef in Black Bean Sauce

Good with

• Beef with Broccoli
• Szechuan Style Spicy Beef

From Christoph Mayer