One of my very first blogging friends is Bee from Rasa Malaysia. In the early days of the blog, we used to chat on the phone after my kids went to bed about the technical side of blogging — silly acronyms like SEO, PHP, CSS and HTML. Back then (I say “back then” like it was decades ago, but in reality it was just 4 1/2 years ago!) there weren’t a ton of plug-ins and support forums weren’t available for food bloggers. Wow, have we come a long way!
She asked me to write the Foreword for her brand new book, Easy Chinese Recipes, it’s a beautiful book with simple recipes that you’d find at your favorite Chinese restaurant, like Shrimp Fried Rice, Kung Pao Chicken and Homestyle Chow Mein Noodles. I hope you enjoy this recipe for Black Pepper Steak from her book. ~Jaden
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Hi all, I am Bee of Rasa Malaysia, a food blog about easy Asian recipes. I am extremely thrilled to be on Steamy Kitchen today, sharing a recipe from my cookbook “Easy Chinese Recipes.” Jaden and I met some four years ago 
through our blogs; we also share the same publisher, Tuttle Publishing. I wanted to take this special opportunity to thank Jaden for writing the Foreword of the book and hervaluable advice when I was working on the project. Truth be told, I wouldn’t have done it if she didn’t tell me to “do it” when I got the offer!
Easy Chinese Recipes is a compilation of 80+ popular Chinese recipes: all-time favorites, Chinese takeout dishes, dim sum, dumplings, and more. Some recipes reflect my many travels in China and Hong Kong. Others are my interpretation of classic Chinese recipes, perfected through years of preparing them at home.
Black Pepper Beef is one of my favorite recipes in the cookbook as I love the combination of bell pepper and black pepper in Chinese stir-fries. These two ingredients, coupled with the right cut of beef—I like beef tenderloin, flank steak or flap meat—will often guarantee a successful dish. If you love the sweetness and slightly charred taste of caramelized onions, stir-fry the onions and bell peppers slightly longer before adding the beef to the stir-fry. You will be rewarded with a richer flavored Black Pepper Beef. Enjoy! ~ Bee
Black Pepper Steak Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (250 g) beef tenderloin, flank steak or flap meat, thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 small green bell pepper, deseeded and cut into pieces
- 1/2 small red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into pieces
- 1/2 onion, sliced
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Salt, to taste
For the Marinade:
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine or sherry
- 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
Instructions
- Marinate the beef with all the Marinade ingredients, about 15 minutes.
- Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a wok or skillet over high heat.
- Stir-fry the beef until the beef is browned on the outside but still pink inside. Dish out and set aside.
- Heat the remaining oil in a wok or skillet over high heat. Stir-fry the garlic and the ginger until aromatic, and then add the green bell pepper, red bell pepper, onion, and black pepper. Stir-fry until you smell the aroma from the ingredients in the wok.
- Transfer the beef back into the wok or skillet. Stir-fry until the beef is cooked through and the center of the meat is no longer pink, about 1-2 minutes. Dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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What would be the calories per gram?
I have this cookbook, it is amazing!
I don’t use wine in cooking, what can I replace the rice wine or sherry with?
Hi Adrianna – just leave it out!
can you marinade longer or will it not make a difference. im cooking tomorrow or to soon to marinade.
You can marinade longer, but it will be saltier. Cut back a bit on the soy.
WOW! delicious, tasty, best pepper steak recipe ever. You can taste every single ingredient amazing.
My mom used to make what we called a pepper steak. I never learned the recipe and have never seen it since. As I remember, it was a flank steak that was salty and peppered on the outside, and although fully cooked (baked?), it was a deep red inside. It was then thinly cut and served alongside vegetables and plain rice, not mixed. I believe the recipe is Cantonese in origin, but I don’t think I’ve seen it outside the home or any recipe book, or online.
Thank you for sharing the recipe, my husband & I, loved cooking asian food.
Thanks Jaden, this was quite tasty! I added extra cracked pepper. Also an extra batch of sauce at the end. Nom nom nom.
Looking to try this pretty soon..When adding the meat to the pan, should I add it along with or discard the marinade?
The marinade should have stuck to the meat because of the cornstarch 🙂 If you have any leftover marinade, just discard.
I’m curious. This looks quite tasty but there are some comments on Maggi sauce. I dont see it listed in recipe. Should it be?
Hi Rob – no, the original recipe does not include Maggi sauce. However, if you like, you can replace the soy sauce with some Maggi sauce (remember Maggi sauce is much saltier.) I find that with this dish, the recipe written is the best version (without Maggi)
Can you leave out the sherry/ rice wine?
Yes, absolutely!
I made the pepper steak this evening, oh so delicious. In the past I would just open a can of brown gravy never again the sauce was the best I have ever had. I won’t be ordering my pepper steak out anymore.
I can’t find dark soy sauce, any substitute?
Oyster sauce!
Sawyer – you can add some chili garlic sauce. It is wonderfully hot and spicy. My favorite brand is Huy Fong foods hot chili garlic sauce.
how can you make it really really spicy???
Jaden….this looks awesome! Great served with rice or quinoa the perfect meal. I love Chinese food!
Happy Cooking! 😉
love the recipe and website, i will come back here more often!!
So nice to see Bee here! 🙂 A combination of two sites I love! This looks delicious and I’m looking forward to finally getting Bee’s book this weekend 🙂
Is there anything I can use instead of the Maggi sauce? I’m not sure I can find it in my country!
Just use a bit more soy sauce
Another great recipe. (Thanks Bee) It was so simple. And not an expensive meal to make. Thanks Jaden, for sharing this recipe.
This looks delicious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
The black pepper steak looks phenomenal, Jaden! Simple and packed with flavor.
good to see that the ingredients are simple. meaning, i can buy them here in germany without costing me an arm and leg, and a pint of blood. i will surely try this one!
Yes, you can do without the oyster sauce, just use more Maggi seasoning.
This looks absolutely fabulous. I think I’ll substitute the oyster sauce, though. Or, do you think I could just leave it out entirely?
gotta try this.. yumm..
Lick, lick, lick.
Oh, hi!
Wow! This pepper steak looks delish! I could just dive right in to that beautiful picture!
Thank you for sharing such a personal story about your son’s health. We’ll be praying for Nathan!
Love both of your site (your’s & Bee’s). Yeah it is been while… I think, I am following the sites for 4 years now. You both helped us to cook the real Chisene food. Now the people around the world know how really good food looks like & taste like. Thanks to both you.
Jaden,
I ordered the book from amazon today. I hope it is as good as yours!
Thanks for publishing this recipe.
Yum! Our favorite Chinese takeout place CLOSED while we were on our honeymoon and we are devestated.
This will be a great recipe to help with some of the cravings.
My heart just melted! I attempted something similar to this for the first time I made my boyfriend (now hubby) dinner when I was 17! This was before I knew how to not make a lumpy sauce! Can’t wait to surprise hubby with it!
Looked great. I ordered it. Thanks!
Would it matter if I used Japanese rice wine or in other words sake in this?
Sure, that’s no problem!