Chinese Take-Out (cont'd)

Using the leftover beef and rice from the night before, along with some random items in the fridge, I made beef fried rice. This is a very easy and versatile recipe. Whenever I make rice, I usually double the recipe and make fried rice later in the week. Use cold rice because it soaks up the flavor better.

For this recipe, cook frozen corn and peas in the microwave. Meanwhile scramble two eggs and saute half an onion. When the onion is just about done, add the rice. Then add vegetable oil and soy sauce. Break up the rice and add the beef. Cook until rice and beef are hot and then add the cooked vegetables and eggs. At this point, the dish is basically done. Adding rice wine vinegar, or any other mild vinegar, helps to punch up the rice a bit.

Chinese Take-Out

Well I finally found an opportunity to cook and decided to do beef and vegetables in a spicy black bean sauce. I began by marinating a london broil in teriyaki sauce overnight. I left the london broil whole but next time I would probably slice it thinly before marinating so it takes more of the marinade.

The next day, I drained the marinade and patted the beef dry before thinly slicing it. I also sliced an onion and two green peppers into thin strips and put them in the teriyaki marinade. I then sauteed the beef in batches until cooked through. I set the beef aside, wiped out the pan and cooked the peppers and onions until soft.

At this point it was time to build the sauce. I added about a tablespoon of jarred black bean sauce and cooked for about 1 minute. I then added about half a cup of water to the pan, cooked the mixture for a few seconds and then added the beef back to the pan. I then added about a tablespoon of cider vinegar and a tablespoon of soy sauce. I added a few pinches of sugar and black pepper. To finish the sauce, I added a corn starch slurry (corn starch and water) to the pan until the sauce was the consistency I wanted. I served over rice. I enjoyed it but the sauce was a little too spicy for KC (the jarred black bean sauce had chiles).