Why Order Out when You Can Easily Cook It In Your Own Kitchen - Fabulous Chinese Pepper Steak

(Chinese) Pepper Steak

We have been out of town on vacation and I didn't have a chance to do much grocery shopping. When faced with what to make for dinner, I thought, let's order out.  My husband loves Chinese food, so I thought okay, that's what we'll do.  Then I thought, I'm tired of eating out...in fact, I even took my crock pot to our time share because I hate to eat out all the time. Why order out, when you can make the same food in a short period of time in your own kitchen.  I did a fast run to the grocery store for some flank steak and some peppers, and in less than an hour had the most delicious Pepper Steak ready to be placed on the table.  You can do it too, at half the cost of takeout!  Give it a try. The secret is in the prep work!

I was in a little bit of a hurry so this is not in my usual format, so bear with me...but it's all here and so easy to do. The complete recipe is at the bottom of the post. I had already done some of the prep work when I started to take pictures - sorry about that :(

Here are some of the things you will need.  I used a bag of Success Rice 

as well, because I was lazy and in a hurry...

Peel and slice the onions into rings; set aside. 

Wash and cut the peppers into rings; set aside. I added the orange pepper into the recipe 

because I felt it could use another pepper. You can use any color peppers that you want to, 

but I think the recipe needs 4 peppers.

Take 9 tablespoons of the soy sauce and put it into a large plastic container for the marinade. Crush 4 cloves of the garlic, and add to the soy sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of the rice wine vinegar, 3 tablespoon of sherry, and 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar, ginger, and cornstarch.  Mix well.  Add the meat, and stir to coat thoroughly.  Let marinade about 1 hour or so.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, place the remaining 9 tablespoons of soy sauce, the remaining tablespoon of rice wine vinegar, remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, 

remaining 3 tablespoons of sherry, and the remaining 3 whole cloves of garlic and set aside.

In a very large sauté pan or wok, heat about 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil 

I just gave it a few turns around the pan - you don't want to much or it can be overpowering

with about 2-3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil.  

You don't even need to coat the whole pan - just enough to get the onions started.

Add the onions and cook until they start to soften. 

Sprinkle with the teaspoon of granulated sugar, 

and a little garlic salt to taste.

Continue cooking until they begin to caramelize and turn a nice rich brown. 

Remove to a plate and set aside.

 In the same pan, add all the peppers, 

sprinkle with a little garlic salt if desired, 

and sauté until they are softened and browned slightly on the exterior sides.

 Remove from the heat, and set aside.

Place about half of the meat into the same pan and 

stir fry quickly until they are nicely browned, 

this will take about 4-5 minutes, 

remove from the heat. 

Continue cooking the remaining meat until it is the same way. 

Remove the garlic from the soy sauce mix.

Cook your rice.

Add the rest of the meat back to the pan, 

then add the peppers and onions back into the pan. 

Add any of the remaining marinade mix, 

and the soy sauce mixture that you set aside earlier.  

Cook for a few minutes to reheat everything and stir well to get everything coated with the sauce.  

The rice is almost ready.  I toss it with about 2 tablespoons of

unsalted butter before serving.

Toss in the peanuts, (I add them because I

love Chicken and peanuts and thought, "Why Not?"

It was a great addition! You don't like peanuts, leave them out.

 and stir once again to coat the peanuts.  

Confucius say "Better than any Chinese Restaurant 

Pepper Steak and you can actually see the meat."

 Serve over white rice. 

Yummy, I am salivating already....

By the way, don't judge the serving size by my plate, the

others heaped it all over the dish - gastric bypass has a way 

of slowing you down...

Delish!

Pepper Steak (Pepper and Onion Stir Fry)

Elise Feiner

2 – 2 ½ pound flank steak – have the butcher cut it into thin strips for stir fry or cut it yourself, against the grain into small thin pieces

2 large sweet onions, peeled and cut into circles

1 green pepper, cut into rings, seeds removed

1 red pepper, cut into rings, seeds removed

1 yellow pepper, cut into rings, seeds removed

1 orange pepper, cut into rings, seeds removed

7 large cloves of garlic, divided

18 tablespoons of soy sauce, divided

2 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, divided

6 tablespoons sherry, divided

6 tablespoons (brownulated if possible) brown sugar, divided

2-3 teaspoons ground ginger

¼ cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Garlic salt to taste

Sesame Oil – about 2 teaspoons

Vegetable oil – about 2-3 tablespoons

¼ - ½ cup dry roasted peanuts, optional

Peel and slice the onions into rings; set aside. Wash and cut the peppers into rings; set aside. I added the orange pepper into the recipe because I felt it could use another pepper. You can use any color peppers that you want to, but I think the recipe needs 4 peppers.

Take 9 tablespoons of the soy sauce and put it into a large plastic container for the marinade. Crush 4 cloves of the garlic, and add to the soy sauce. Add 1 tablespoon of the rice wine vinegar, 3 tablespoon of sherry, and 3 tablespoons of the brown sugar, ginger, and cornstarch.  Mix well.  Add the meat, and stir to coat thoroughly.  Let marinade about 1 hour or so.

In a small bowl or measuring cup, place the remaining 9 tablespoons of soy sauce, remaining tablespoon of rice wine vinegar, remaining 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, remaining 3 tablespoons of sherry, and the remaining 3 whole cloves of garlic and set aside.

In a very large sauté pan or wok, heat about 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil with about 2-3 tablespoons of the vegetable oil.  Add the onions and cook until they start to soften. Sprinkle with the teaspoon of granulated sugar, and a little garlic salt to taste.

Continue cooking until they begin to caramelize and turn a nice rich brown. Remove to a plate and set aside.  In the same pan, add all the peppers, sprinkle with a little garlic salt if desired, and sauté until they are softened and browned slightly on the exterior sides. Remove from the heat, and set aside.

Place about half of the meat into the same pan and stir fry quickly until they are nicely browned, this will take about 4-5 minutes, remove from the heat. Continue cooking the remaining meat until it is the same way.  Add the rest of the meat, then add the peppers and onions back into the pan.  Remove the whole cloves of garlic from the marinade mix. Add any of the remaining marinade mix, and the soy sauce mixture that you set aside earlier.  Cook for a few minutes to reheat everything, and stir well to get everything coated with the sauce.  Toss in the peanuts, and stir once again to coat the peanuts.  Serve over white rice. 

Serves 3-4

Note: As with most of my recipes, I recommend doing all your prep work in advance.  It makes it so much easy to put the dish together when everything is cut and prepped and right at your fingertips. This is a very quick meal to make once all the prep work is done.

The soy sauce is quite salty, so you may want to use just a little garlic salt, but I think the peppers and onions always need a little salt when sautéing.  I put just a tiny bit of unsalted butter when preparing my rice for this dish and add nothing else to the rice so it picks up the soy sauce, and helps decrease the saltiness of the soy sauce.  You can also use low sodium soy sauce if you prefer.