Recipes, Beef Recipes

Val’s Chinese Crispy Chilli Beef Recipe

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My Chinese crispy chilli beef recipe is cheap to make and devastatingly delicious! This dish is perfect for a midweek treat or as part of a larger meal. The origin of the dish is not known, but it is likely a European adaptation of a Sichuan recipe. Best served with rice and a very cold beer.

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

Chilli sauce

Method

Marinate the Beef for Maximum Flavour

  1. Slice the beef into thin strips, about 5cm long and ½cm wide.
  2. Place in a bowl and toss with the marinade ingredients until well coated.
  3. Cover and refrigerate for 2–4 hours to allow the flavours to develop.

Make the Chilli Sauce

  1. Begin by dry frying the crushed black pepper in a pan over a medium heat until it just begins to smoke — keep it moving as you cook for 30 seconds more.
  2. Add the oil to the pan and bring it up to temperature. Once hot, add the chilli, garlic, ginger, and star anise — the mixture should sizzle immediately.
  3. Sauté until the garlic just begins to turn a pale ivory colour.
  4. Stir in the ketchup, Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, orange juice, and zest.
  5. Simmer gently until the sauce thickens to a syrupy consistency, then set aside.

Cook the Beef and Serve

  1. Tip 100g of cornflour onto a plate. Dredge the marinated beef strips, coating each one thoroughly. Add a little extra cornflour if needed to ensure all pieces are well covered, then lay them out on a separate plate.
  2. Heat a generous amount of oil in a wok — enough to deep-fry the beef in small batches.
  3. Prepare a large mixing bowl lined with kitchen paper, ready to drain the beef.
  4. Fry the beef in batches — around 3 strips at a time — until crisp. The aim is not to overcook the meat but to fry the flour coating to a light, crisp finish. (Note: cornflour stays pale even when fully cooked, so don’t wait for a dark golden colour.)
  5. Transfer each batch of fried beef into the prepared bowl. Once all the beef is fried, discard the kitchen paper, leaving the crispy beef in the bowl.
  6. Toss in a handful of wild garlic — the residual heat will wilt it gently — then pour over the sticky chilli sauce and toss everything together until well coated.
  7. Serve immediately with steamed rice and a cold beer.

Shop the ingredients

Valentine Warner is a chef, food writer, business owner and broadcaster, with a deep interest in nature, travel and provincial food. He describes his cooking style as ‘International Grandmother’ and combines his strong sense of storytelling with his infectious love of cookery. Val has a deep respect and understanding of ingredients, both wild and cultivated, and has the instinctive ability to rustle up hearty and wholesome meals from whatever’s available. Val is an avid proponent of native food sources, and finds common ground with Swaledale in their work to deliver top-notch meat, within a truthful, ethical and high welfare framework. Originally a trained portrait painter, Val has also authored 5 cookbooks, managed his own catering company and is a co-owner of Taqueria, a West London Mexican cafe. Val is also a partner in the Hepple Distillery in Northumberland and Holmen Lofoten hotel on arctic Norway’s Lofoten island.