5. Chinese crispy beef (Guo bao rou)

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Chinese crispy beef

锅包肉

This is our version of Sweet and sour crispy beef - a weekend dish.

Actually, a little bit late for the weekend dish now… sorry, probably next weekend?


Saying it is a weekend dish is because it will take a little more time, 10 mins more - probably? :)) and it is a little bit ‘complicated’, people normally don’t cook it during the week days or even at home at all.


I never really loved any meat dish since I was little; however, this was one of the only fews I would order in the restaurant. And I have the treat whenever  I go to my auntie’s, my lovely uncle would cook for me at very high standard.:))) ( oh, he is a very good chef, taught me lots.)  I learnt this from him.. well, till now, I still cannot cook to his level. :)

Chinese crispy beef

This dish is called Guo Bao Rou in Chinese in .. actually I am not sure it is only called like that only within my ethnic group or in the whole North of China.

Guo Bao Rou literally means the wok wraps meat, Rou means meat in general, but there is another dish in other places with very similar taste called “Hui Guo Rou", literately means putting the meat back to wok to cook.

Whichever, this is the dish:

It is normally a beef dish for my ethnic group people, however, if you walk in a normal restaurant in the Northeast of China, it is normally cooked with pork instead. The taste is -- sweet and sour source wraps crispy beef.

In the North of China, we often joke and say that this is a lady’s dish, because of its soft touch of sweet and sour without very sharp or strong taste. :))) It is different to the ‘sweet and sour’ you get in Chinese restaurant or takeaways here.

Chinese Guo bao Rou recipe

Ingredients

Beef : it is normally lean steak, which it has to be sliced in a very thin layer. I can't distinguish very well among the different beef cuts, so I either I would walk into the local butcher, tell them I want a piece of beef for frying, they would nicely choose one piece for me, or I just go to M&S (the nearest supermarket) to get the ‘quick fry steak’. Lazy me, really need to learn more. :)

Egg , flour , light soy sauce , salt, ginger , spring onion , tomato sauce (or ketchup), rice vinegar , white sugar , corn flour , cooking wine.

Again, cooking the dish involves two steps: 1) frying the steak; 2) ‘wrap’ with the sauce.

Preparation:

1) Slice the beef: the ideal piece is not too small, at least 6-8cm long, and thin-- as thin as you can slice. (having a sharp knife in hand helps a lot :0)

2) Preparing the ‘coating batter’: beat one egg in the bowl, then put flour in, a little bit water, half teaspoon of salt, a few drops of light soy sauce, mix well, then put sliced beef in.

3) Chopping a piece of ginger and a whole spring onion into strips.

4) Place one and half spoon of corn flour, mix well with (4-5 table spoons) of water.

Cooking

1) Pour oil into the wok, 2cm or more, turn on the fire to medium.

2) When the oil is heated up, place well coated beef with batter into the oil, keep on turning until both sides are well cooked, place the meat on a plate.

3) Refry the meat -- Ok, this is a trick I learned from my uncle. After frying the beef with coated batter, let it cool down for a little bit, then turn on the fire, heat up the oil again, refry the meat, this way can make the surface of the meat very crispy.

4) Put the cleaned wok back on a high fire, pour in a bit oil, half cup of tomato sauce (or ketchup), 2 table spoons white sugar, 1 table spoon of cooking wine, 2-3 table spoons of rice vinegar, chopped spring onion and ginger at last.

5) After mixing everything together, pour in prepared corn flour-water mix.

6) When the sauce starts showing bubbles, put well-fried meat pieces in, allow the sauce wrap the meat pieces well, then remove everything to a plate.

Chinese guo bao rou

---------- Et voila!


The steps 4-6 need to be done very quickly, the main reason is not to let surface of the meat pieces soak into the sauce, and becomes softer, the sauce is supposed to be just hung on the surface. So the first bite is crispy, then you taste the sweet and sour.  Although it is oil-fried, it is not greasy, especially with the fresh smell of the spring onion and ginger - it is just freshness of the meat. :))

---Do you like? :)))