I love Chinese food and one of my favourites is the earthy and meaty black bean sauce. Unfortunately the versions of the sauce you can buy in the supermarket, while nice, are very different from those you get from your local takeaway or Chinese restaurant. After a lot of experimentation, I have come up with a recipe that tastes authentic while allowing you to use fresh ingredients, save money and impress your guests.

There are a couple of unusual ingredients that can be got from an Asian supermarket but they are worth getting for a genuine taste. While the black beans are essential, the Chinese rice wine can be replaced by dry sherry.

And don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients, this really is a simple recipe once everything is ready to go.

Serves 2 to 4

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoon black beans, washed and roughly chopped

300g beef steak

1tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

2 tbsp rice wine or sherry

1 tbsp ginger finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped or crushed

1 red chilli, finely chopped

150 gram chicken stock

1 chopped red pepper

1/2 white onion chopped into large pieces or 3 spring onions roughly chopped

drizzle of vegetable oil for stir frying

long grain rice to serve

METHOD

Marinate steak in the sesame oil, soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight for the best flavour.

Heat vegetable oil in a wok then slice beef and add beef, ginger, pepper and onion, stir fry for a couple of minutes and then toss in the black beans, garlic and chilli, stir fry for a further 2 minutes and then add the chicken stock and cook for 5 minutes until sauce has reduced.

Serve immediately on boiled rice.

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