Hot Hot Orange Beef Or Chicken

Photo: flickr user rexipe

Ingredients

1/2 pound Flank steak, sliced thinly across the grain

1 lrg Egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon Soy sauce

1 tablespoon Cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon White pepper

1/2 teaspoon Dark sesame oil

2 lrg Garlic cloves, minced

20 Dried red chilies, (I use ancho) For mild heat, leave whole, for med heat, break up 1/2 of the chilies, for hottest, break up al

medium Orange peel from one orange, cut into 1" or smalle

1 tablespoon Sugar

3 tablespoons Hoisen sauce

1 tablespoon Soy sauce

1 tablespoon Vinegar, (preferably rice wine)

1 tablespoon Dry sherry

1 tablespoon Chili oil

1/4 teaspoon Salt

1/2 teaspoon Cornstarch

1 tablespoon Dark sesame oil

Preparation

From A Taste of Chinatown

Stir together in a separate bowl and have ready seasoning liquid:

Heat wok on high. Add 2 Tb vegetable oil. When hot, add aromatics (garlic etc) and stir fry 30 sec-1 min to release fragrance. Add beef and stir fry a couple minutes until medium rare. Re-stir seasoning liquid and add to wok. Toss to thoroughly coat beef and until sauce thickens. Serve over white rice.

Notes:1. Preparing everything before beginning to cook is crucial

2. Doubles well, and sometimes I just double the sauce, because I love the taste.

3. I omit the salt, but usually add juice from the orange to the seasoning sauce and double the cornstarch.

4. I also usually omit the egg in the marinade, sometimes ading a splash of vinegar and/or sherry and a bit more cornstarch.

5. To make with chicken, substitute 3/4 pound boneless breast or thigh meat cut into 1/2" cubes and cooked a couple minuted longer, but starting with the following marinade instead:2 Tb water 1 tsp soy sauce 1 Tb cornstarch 1 tsp dark sesame oil

The most famous use for hoisin sauce is to paint a on the mandarin pancakes served with Peking duck. You can do something similar but simpler by painting a bit on some flour totillas, tossing in a bit of chopped scallion and/or other veggies you might wish and rolling around some roasted chicken or duck.

I use the above recipe as a kind of generic stirfry blueprint, BTW. I marinate and cook the meat in a similar way, just varying by what I have at hand or feel like -leaving out the chilies and adding 1-2 Tb chopped fresh ginger ot mashed fermented black beans to the aromatics, putting some oyster sauce, chili paste, lemon juice, etc in the sauce. To include vegies, chop into bite sized pieces and stir fry them first for a minute or two in a couple Tb veg oil. Add a bit of broth or bouillion, cover and steam a minute or two, depending upon their hardness. Remove from pan, prepare the meat/sause, and stir veggies back in for another minute or so of cooking before <