Sunday, August 15, 2010

Australian Chinese Beef / Chicken with Black Bean Sauce


Everybody loves this classic Australian Chinese recipe, and it works very well with any meat, especially when some meats will be considered taboo simply because they are outside the range of the generally accepted definition of a foodstuff, not necessarily because the meat is considered repulsive in flavor, aroma, texture or appearance. Like many older Singaporean Taoists, my mother had never eaten or cooked beef in her lifetime. She even discouraged us from the eating beef, although it is not considered taboo, she refrained from beef, because she felt that it was wrong to eat an animal that was so useful in rice growing.With her conviction, beef had been replaced with chicken in her cooking. Instead of beef rendung , we had chicken rendung at home. We did the same thing when we had to cook for a guest who shares the the same religious belief as my mother. We had chicken with black bean sauce instead of beef.

Beef / Chicken with Black Bean Sauce.

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast or 500g fillet beef steak
1 red capsicum
1 green capsicum
1 large carrot
3 sticks celery
11/2 tablespoon of salted black beans
2 cloves of garlic finely chopped.
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon cornflour
4 tablespoon oil
2 chicken stock cubes
11/2 tablespoon light soya sauce
2 tablespoon dry sherry

Slice chicken or beef steak into 5mm thick. Combine with sherry, soya sauce and cornflour and mix well. Stand aside for 30 minutes. Soak salted black beans with water for about 5 minutes, drain and rinse with running water. Mesh drained salted black beans with sugar into a paste. Prepare and cut vegetables into strips. Heat wok and add oil, add vegetables and stir fry over high heat for 2 minutes. Remove vegetables form wok. Heat wok and add 2 tablespoon of oil, add black bean paste and garlic. Fry until fragrant and add meat and cook until browned. Add marinate and cook for another minute. Return vegetables to wok and mix well. Blend 1 teaspoon of cornflour with water, add to the beef and vegetables. Cook until the mixture thickens. Serve with rice.

1 comment:

  1. Popping by!

    Looks yummy, I'll try out your recipe one day too at home...

    I love the meat of the cow, but my late grandpa had the same ideology as your mother, he could eat beef, but dislikes the idea of consuming it (at one time, mad cow disease was also rampant and in the spotlight), and as such, my family never cooked beef (or even ox tail per se) until after he passed on...

    Sometimes the older generation has different thinking, but I understand why. Good or bad, again, it's all boils down to personal preference.

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