If you go to the food court of any big shopping mall you will almost always find a Chinese restaurant of some sort. A long time ago when I worked in a mall, I would often eat lunch at that mall’s Chinese restaurant with my co-worker. My favorite thing to order was Chinese Pepper Steak. Unlike many restaurants this place cooked it fresh right in front of you as you stood in line. It was always worth the wait for this fantastic dish. Today I will try to replicate that.

The Chinese version of pepper steak has a sauce with a strong black pepper flavor. In my recipe below, I use less black pepper than normal and use relatively more bell peppers. The central flavors of this dish come from a marinade made with soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. You’ll also need ingredients like vegetables, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and hoisin sauce to make this dish. The sauce is pretty easy to put together as I show below. Most of the work is just prepping the meat and vegetables.

The secret to any stir-fry dish is to start with a really hot pan or wok. You need to cut the meat into thin strips so that when cooking the moisture stays locked in. The key aspect of stir frying is that you continually stir the ingredients in a small amount of very hot oil in the pan or wok. Stir frying is arguably one of the healthier ways to cook meat and let’s you practice your culinary skills a bit, as it’s fast cooking and you stay in motion the whole time.

It will help to prep your items ahead of time before starting the cooking process. This way the cooking goes quickly and stress free.

I can usually make this at home in less than 30 minutes. The result is always far better than any restaurant you might go to.

Ingredients

Beef marinate

• 1 lbs. beef flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain
• 1 tsp. each finely chopped ginger and garlic
• 1 tbsp. each soy sauce
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp black ground pepper

For the sauce

• 1/3 cup water
• 1 tbsp. each oyster sauce, soy sauce, beef seasoning, hoisin sauce, and cornstarch

For the stir-fry

• 2 tbsp. oil
• 1 cup yellow onion, large dice
• 1 cup seeded, red pepper, large diced
• 3/4 cup seeded, green pepper, large diced

Instructions

In a medium bowl, mix together all beef marinade ingredients until fully combined.  Marinate for 20-30 minutes.

Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat a large wok over a high-heat. Add 1 tbsp. of oil to the wok. When the oil is hot, add onions and peppers to the wok. Cook until the onions and peppers are slightly char on the edges. This will take about 2-3 minutes. Remove from the pan and transfer it to a plate.

Heat another 1 tbsp. oil to the same wok. Add marinated steak in a single layer, working in batches if needed, and cook until seared on both sides. Remove steak and set aside.

Add sauce to the wok. Turn down the heat and stir well, then cook until slightly thickened. Add beef and peppers to the sauce, then stir until evenly coated. Cook for another minute or so.

Turn of the heat and taste for seasoning. Transfer the stir fry to a serving bowl or dish and serve with steamed white or brown rice!

Serves 4

Did you make this dish? I’d love to know how it turns out! Feel free to like this post and comment or use the hashtag #globaldinein on Instagram. If you would like to be notified of upcoming posts, please consider subscribing to my blog!