Shui Zhu Beef (Sichuan Boiled Beef)

 

 

 

Shui Zhu Beef (Sichuan Boiled Beef)

Sichuan style water boiled beef is one of my favorite dishes in restaurants. If you ever tasted it in China, you will crazily love the tenderness of the beef slices and shocked by how well they are flavored in the hot and red broth.

Another surprise of the dish, in addition to the beef slice, is the vegetables at the bottom. They can absorb enough flavor form the broth, even though they are not boiled in the broth directly. Popular options about bottom vegetables are cabbage, bean sprouts, celery, mushrooms and lettuce head.

 

Ingredients
150g beef steak or tenderloin (cut into thin slices, against the grain)

Vegetables (you can use any of your favorite green vegetables)
3 sticks of  celery

a small bunch of garlic chives   (optional)

a large bunch of green leafy salad

pinch of salt
2 tablespoons starch +1 tablespoon water (recommend potato starch or sweet potato starch)
1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
1+1/2 tablespoons water or slightly more if needed.
2 green onions, white part cut into 2cm long and green pert chopped
2 star anises
5-8 dried chili pepper
1/2 teaspoon Sichuan pepper
1 tablespoon doubajiang
1 teaspoon dou-chi (optional)
water as needed
1+2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 thumb ginger, sliced
Coriander and green onion for garnishing

 

Directions:

Step 1:   Wash and cut vegetables.  Mince ginger and garlic.    Cut beef steak into thin slices against the grains. Transfer to a bowl, add pinch of salt and cooking wine. Mix well and set aside for 10 minutes and then add starch and water.

        

 

 

Step 2:    In a wok, add 1 tablespoon of oil, fry half of the chili pepper, half of Sichuan peppercorn, star anise over lowest fire until aroma. Then add ginger, garlic and green onion whites, cook for around another 30 seconds.   Add doubanjiang and dou-chi in, fry until you can see the red oil come out.  Add salt.   Pour around 1L water in. Simmer for around 15-20 minutes with lid covered. During this process, you may smell the strong aroma bought by the broth.

 

Step 3:    In the same pot,  add all the green vegetables and cook for around 30 seconds.. Transfer out and lay in the bottom of the serving bowl.

 

Step 4:    Grasp the pork again to make sure they are evenly coated. Turn up fire and add the pork slices in and cook until the broth begin to boil again. Wait for around 20 to 30 seconds and transfer them out immediately to the serving bowl.

 

Step 5:    Heat up around 2 tablespoons of cooking oil again in wok with the left chili pepper and Sichuan pepper over slow fire until really hot (you can smell the strong aroma and the chili pepper begins to turn dark). Evenly pour the oil on the surface of the serving bowl. Be careful during the process; do not get burnt!

Serve directly or garnish with green onion and coriander.