Spicy Asian Beef

This recipe is for spicy Asian beef similar to Szechuan beef. In fact, my dad took inspiration from Szechuan beef but was lacking many of the critical ingredients.

For example, instead of using fish sauce or oyster sauce, he replaced it with anchovy paste. This is because it is quite hard to find high-quality fish sauce here that isn't incredibly expensive, and the lower-cost fish sauce is very low quality and does not taste good.

Also, I must apologize for not being able to give exact measurements for the ingredients. My dad adds ingredients and flavors as he cooks until it tastes just right, and he never takes the time to measure. But, if you add a little bit of each ingredient at a time to the sauce for this beef, then I'm sure you will be able to get it to your liking and it will turn out great.

Ingredients:

• cornstarch
• 1 kg thickly cut beef bistec, cut into chunks
• around 10 chambray onions, with the stems separated
• water

Ingredients for the sauce:

• around 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• around 2 tablespoons sugar
• finely chopped green onion stems from around 10 onions
• around 6 chile de arbol chilis, finely chopped
• ginger to taste, peeled with a spoon and finely grated
• around 1/2 head garlic, smashed to a paste to release all oils
• around 3 anchovies, smashed to a paste
• around 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• around 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• around 4 tablespoons vinegar
• around 3/4 cup soy sauce
• around 3/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Roll all of the meat in cornstarch and begin to cook it in a preheated pan along with the onions. My dad used his 100-year-old castiron skillet. Try to not over-crowd the pan, because the meat will release juices and too much will boil the meat instead of browning it.
2. Once the meat is browned on one side, flip them to the other side.
3. Once both sides are browned, remove the meat but let the onions cook more until they are black in some spots.
4. Mix all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl, adding or subtracting the amount of each ingredient depending on the strength of, for example, the garlic, and your preference.
5. Place the meat in a large pan with a small portion of the sauce and enough water to cover the meat. Add more water as it evaporates. Let the meat braise until it is tender but not falling apart.
6. Once the meat is fully cooked and tender, allow most of the water to evaporate and add the rest of the sauce.
7. Serve with rice or on it's own and enjoy.