Black Bean Beef and Peppers
Tender beef strips browned hard and tossed with sweet peppers and onion in a glossy black bean sauce, served over fluffy rice. A fast, high-protein skillet dinner with a savory, not spicy finish.
- Total
- 20 min
- Prep 6 · Cook 12 · Rest 2
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Stir-frying
- Savory
- Quick
- Asian
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Rinse the 75 g rice under cold water until it runs clear, then put it in the small saucepan with 150 ml water and a pinch of the salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then cover, drop to the lowest heat, and cook until the water is absorbed and the grains are tender, about 12 minutes.
~12 min
Rinsing removes surface starch so the grains cook up separate and fluffy instead of gluey.
-
While step 1 cooks
While the rice cooks, cut the peppers into 1 cm strips and the onion into 1 cm slices. Pat the 150 g beef strips dry with paper towel and season with the black pepper and the remaining salt.
~4 min
Drying the beef ensures a hard sear rather than steaming, and salting early seasons the meat.
-
Heat the vegetable oil in the large skillet over high heat until it shimmers. Add the beef strips in a single layer and cook without moving them until browned underneath, about 1 minute, then stir and cook 1 minute more. Transfer the beef to a plate.
~2 min
A single layer and no moving lets the beef develop a browned crust through the Maillard reaction.
Pat the beef strips very dry before browning: surface moisture steams the meat and stops it browning in the short time you have.
Searing Pat the beef bone-dry, heat the oil until shimmering, and leave the strips untouched until a brown crust forms; moving them too early steams the meat.
-
Add the peppers and onion to the hot skillet and stir-fry until they soften slightly and pick up charred edges, about 3 minutes.
~3 min
High heat stir-frying chars the vegetables, adding smoky flavor and keeping them crisp-tender.
Stir-frying Keep the pan very hot and toss the vegetables constantly so they char at the edges without turning limp or watery.
-
Lower the heat to medium, stir the 1.5 tbsp black bean sauce into the vegetables, then return the beef and any resting juices. Toss until the beef is coated and just cooked through, about 1 minute.
~1 min
Lowering the heat prevents the black bean sauce from burning while it coats the beef.
If the black bean sauce looks thick when it hits the pan, loosen it with 1 tbsp of the rice cooking water so it coats the beef instead of clumping.
-
Take the skillet off the heat and let the beef settle for 2 minutes. Fluff the rice with a fork and spoon it onto a plate, then top with the beef, peppers and sauce.
~2 min