Beef Onion Stir-fry: Quick Chinese Recipe - The Woks of Life (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to good stir fry? ›

The first is to cook your protein and your vegetable separately, and combine them only after both are fully cooked. A second rule of thumb for stir-frying: Choose one vegetable per stir-fry. Finally, always remember to add liquid only after everything is more or less finished cooking.

Flank steaks are the most popular choice for making a stir-fry. However, you can also use sirloin steak, skirt steak, Denver steak, or even beef chuck. Beef chuck steak is the most economical choice, but it does require some extra trimming. You'll want to remove the tough tissue from the steaks before frying.

GREEN ONION: Best Stir Fry Onion

Green onions, sometimes called scallons, are onions that have not yet matured, so they have a very small bulb. They are great for stir fry. You can use the green tops in a salad as well. And they make a wonderful garnish for soups or tacos.

Aromatic ingredients like garlic, ginger, green onions, chilies and spices. These ingredients are typically added to the oil first to infuse it with flavor. You won't need much; a few teaspoons to a tablespoon of total aromatic ingredients per person adds a serious amount of flavor.

While there are several ways to velvet, a pound of meat needs about two teaspoons of cornstarch and two teaspoons of oil, says Leung. You may also include two to three tablespoons of water. For beef, add a 1/4-teaspoon of baking soda for tenderizing. Additional seasonings are optional and vary from recipe to recipe.

If the meat isn't tender, the pieces will become tough and chewy from being cooked too fast. Maintaining a tender and juicy dish is a key component of stir-frying. If you have difficulty cooking meats like chicken that are prone to drying out, you can soak them in a marinating liquid for a few minutes.

Adding too much meat will reduce the temperature of the wok and make it stew, resulting in tough, flavourless meat. Don't overcook the meat at this stage as it will continue to cook when it's returned to the wok. Stir-fry onions first, then add hard vegetables such as carrot and broccoli.

What kind of onions do Chinese restaurants use? ›

Scallions. These two-tone onions can be eaten cooked or raw. Scallions are popular in Chinese and Mexican cuisine. In Chinese cooking, scallions are used in stir-fries, soups, stews and braised dishes.

According to Food & Wine, ketchup is the ultimate way to take the flavor of homemade stir fry up a level, thanks to its sweet and sour flavor profile. It just might be the easiest cooking hack to elevate your home cooking to that of your favorite take-out.

Fresh ginger.

Ginger will add some serious zing to your stir-fry. Keep a root in your fridge, where it will stay good for a long while. Peel it with a spoon and then grate some into your pan at the same time you add the garlic. (Pro tip: You can grate your garlic, too, for an ultra-quick cook.)

Technique. Broadly speaking, there are two primary techniques: chao and bao. Both techniques use high heat, but chao adds a liquid and the ingredients are softer, whereas bao stir fries are more crispy because of the Maillard reaction.