Beef and green peppers in black bean sauce

Ingredients

• 300 g very thinly sliced beef - sliced into 1 x 2 inch strips

To marinade the beef:

• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• 1/2 a tablespoon of cornflour (UK) or cornstarch (US)
• 1 tablespoon of Shaoxhing (Chinese) rice wine
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce

You will aloo need:

• 3 good heaped tablespoons of fermented black beans - rinsed, drained and then soaked in a little water for 15 minutes.
• Once fifteen minutes has passed, pour off the water and add
• 1/2 a tablespoon of chilli flavoured oil

To make the sauce:

• 3 tablespoons light soy sauce
• 1/2 a tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 1/2 a teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 2 teaspoon cornflour

You will also need:

• 1 large onion - cut into bite sized pieces - on the large side
• 4 dried red birds eye chilies - deseeded and left whole
• 2 green bell peppers - cut into bite sized pieces
• 2 spring onions - sliced in half length ways and then cut into cut into 1.5 inch lengths
• about 4 slices fresh ginger - finely chopped to make about a 1 and a half teaspoons
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• vegetable oil for frying

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Preparation

• Mix together the marinade ingredients and add the sliced beef. Set aside for about 20 minutes to half an hour. Don't fuss that there isn't really very much liquid to the 'marinade'.
• Make sure you rinsed and soaked the black beans (as above) and then add the chilli oil. You can then mix together the sauce ingredients and add the black beans along with the chilli oil in to the sauce mixture, and set aside.
• When you have everything at the ready, heat half a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok.
• First cook the beef; as there isn't really any marinade to drain from the beef, you can just put the beef in and stir fry until it's almost cooked - this will take just a couple of minutes. Remove the beef and set aside.
• Add the onions, bell peppers, spring onions and whole dried red chilies and stir fry them until they smell spicy.
• Now add the garlic and ginger and stir for a minute - don't let the garlic burn. Add the black bean sauce mixture and stir fry for a few minutes more. Add the beef back in giving it all a good stir.
• Before serving, remove the whole chillies if you wish. Serve immediately with rice or noodles.