Black Bean Beef & Capsicum

When my mum cooks this, it is only with green and red capsicum – but since one of my kids won\’t eat capsicum but will eat raw bean sprouts, the recipe is slightly modified. (She eats around the capsicum.)

  • 500g rump steak, finely sliced
  • 2 capsicums, sliced (something like 2 x 2cm chunks)
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 cm ginger, grated
  • 1 tbs dark mushroom soy sauce. (This is a strong sauce so only add enough to coat the meat)
  • half tbs dry apera (whisky)
  • bean sprouts, rinsed
  • 2-3 tsp black bean paste (kept in the fridge)
  • 1 tbs cornflour

Method:

  1. Marinate the beef in half the garlic plus all the ginger, onion, dark soy, apera, black bean sauce and cornflour. Note: you only want enough soy to lightly coat the meat, not have it swim. This sauce is so strong that you must add water later to dilute it.
  2. Fry the remaining garlic in olive oil, then add the capsicum. This shouldn\’t take long to cook. It is better to undercook than overcook the capsicum. Remove.
  3. Add the beef and lower the heat just a little because the cornflour will immediately start sticking to the bottom of the pan. Here we do a little dance between frying, steaming and simmering. That is, you have some water on hand (like a kettle) and add small splashes while vigorously stirring the bottom of the pan. You don\’t want to add too much at first because you want to partly fry (not boil) the meat, but nor do you want the pan to be a sticky mess. Once the meat is browned, it\’s fine to add more water to reach the desired strength of the sauce (i.e. diluting the dark mushroom soy). If you find that you\’ve made it too watery, add some cornflour and stir to thicken.
  4. When the beef is cooked through, add the bean sprouts. In my case, I reserve some raw ones also.
  5. Then add the capsicum back in.
  6. Serve with rice and the reserved bean sprouts.

Bonus – Pork Spare Ribs in Black Bean Sauce

This isn\’t one I tend to cook as it is soooo carnivorous, but maybe I should because the kids seem to like it. It basically uses the same marinade but without cornflour. Use this on a stack of pork spare ribs and then cook in the oven (180C) for maybe 50 minutes. If you don\’t want to have to soak the tray, you could line it with baking paper.

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