Beef with Peppers and Broccoli

I love Chinese food. When I go to a Chinese restaurant my ‘usual’ is Lo Mein Noodles with either vegetables or shrimp – that’s my favorite. However, when I went this time, I decided to try something new – Beef and Peppers. And it was a wonderful change. I love beef and I love peppers, so why not put them together? It was so good, that I decided to look up a recipe to make it on my own. Despite my spontaneous decision to make this delicious dish, I didn’t really like the recipes that I was getting, so I picked and chose bits of each recipe and made my own! Let’s see how it turned out.

 I first marinated the beef:

1 ½ lbs. beef

About a tablespoon soy sauce

1 T freshly grated ginger

¼ - ½ tsp. 5 spice

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. rice vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

Ingredients for the Stir-fry:

3 bell peppers (1 red, 1 yellow, 1 orange)

2 small onions or 1 medium, diced

1 ½ tsp. cornstarch

1 cup broccoli florets

½ cup water

1 tsp. beef bouillon

1 T sesame oil

Soy sauce to taste

Procedure:

Place the thinly sliced beef in the marinade and let it sit in the fridge for about 2 hours (if you can leave it for a longer time, then that’s better).  

While the beef is soaking up the marinade, start to prepare the other ingredients. Chop the peppers and onions and cut the broccoli into small florets. 

Fry the onions with some oil in a wok. Once the onions are caramelized, throw the beef in until it is brown. 

Then add the peppers and broccoli and let them cook for 2-3 minutes (or until tender). 

 

Towards the end, mix the cornstarch with the water and the beef bouillon. Pour into the wok and cook it until the sauce has thickened. Serve this with rice and drizzle the sesame oil over top and soy sauce if needed. Enjoy! 

Though it doesn't look as great as I was expecting it to, it tasted amazing and I will definitely make it again. The reason why the meat doesn't look as brown and appetizing as it's supposed to, is because of the marinade that I used. I used this because I was using grass-fed beef which is extremely lean. Therefore, with the marinade, it turned out very moist and tender and it really soaked in those flavors that were used. Try it and tell me how it turns out!