Scallion Beef Stir-Fry Recipe

Ching Ying Wong

Scallion beef stir-fry, or cong bao niurou, is one of my husband Dom’s favorite dishes, as he absolutely loves beef. Beef with onion and scallion is a match made in heaven! Often, the thing people worry about when cooking beef at home is that the meat is going to turn out chewy and tough. For this recipe, a friend who owns a restaurant in Taiwan shared with me some tricks restaurants use to get tender beef every single time! —Tiffy Chen

Scallion Beef Stir-Fry (Cong bao niurou)

Serves 4

Prep time: 30 minutes

Active time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

1½ pounds New York strip steak (or your preferred cut of beef)
1½ tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg white
3 tablespoons rice wine (optional)
A pinch each of salt and ground black pepper
2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1½ tablespoons vegetarian oyster sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground Szechuan peppercorns
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
6 scallions, cut into 2-inch lengths, white and green parts separated
10 dried red Thai chiles
Cooked rice or your favorite noodles, for serving

Cookbook that says Tiffy Cooks, 88 Easy Asian Recipes From My Family to Yours, Tiffy Chen; Tiffy Chen on cover with a bunch of food on table in front of her, holding drinking glass up to mouth

Courtesy Penguin Random House

Directions

Place the beef in the freezer for 10 minutes. This will firm up the beef, making it easier to slice. Cut the beef diagonally against the grain into thin strips.

In a large bowl, stir together the cornstarch, baking soda, egg white, rice wine (if using), and salt and pepper. Add the beef strips, mix to completely coat the beef, and let marinate for 20 minutes at room temperature.

In a small bowl, stir together the light soy sauce, vegetarian oyster sauce, sugar, ground Szechuan peppercorns and cumin.

Heat 1 cup of the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the beef strips and fry for 2 to 3 minutes, until browned. Transfer the beef to a plate and set aside. Pour out the oil and wipe the pan. In the same pan, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the yellow onion, scallion whites and chiles. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes, until fragrant. Drizzle in the sauce and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Increase the heat to high. Return the beef to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the scallion greens and sauté for 30 seconds. Transfer to a large serving plate. Serve with rice or noodles.

Reprinted with permission from Tiffy Cooks: 88 Easy Asian Recipes from My Family to Yours by Tiffy Chen. Copyright © 2024 by Yin Chu Chen and Tokytiffy Consulting Ltd. Photographs copyright © 2024 by Ching Ying Wong. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.