Food Time: Stir-Fry Beef with Baby Bok Choy

Mum demanded lunch today and she was craving beef. It was already like 1140 AM and I also haven't had a proper meal in the morning, so I headed down to my local Fresh & Easy. I really love that place because the prices are cheap and they have great prepackaged meat. So I decided to make some stir-fry beef with some baby bok choy as the veg, and it turned out great. 

Stif-Fry Beef with Baby Bok Choy

inspired from indonesiaeats.com

So for this fun dish you will need:

• 2 lbs of beef strips/sliced beef for stir fry
• 4 baby bok choy, washed and separated
• 1 large onion, sliced into half rings (warning: tear jerker!)
• 3-4 tablespoon of oil (I used Vegetable oil)
• 1/4 cup of water

As for the Marinade, you will need:

• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 10 tablespoon of premade Korean BBQ / Kalbi Marinade Sauce
• 3 tablespoon of Oyster Sauce
• 4 cloves of Garlic (I'm really a Garlic girl. For me, the more the merrier)
• 1.5 centimeter of Ginger, remove the skin
• 1 teaspoon of Spicy Sesame Oil
• 1 teaspoon of White Pepper
• 3 - 4 tablespoon of corn starch

I put all of these marinade items in the food processor and pulsate them until smooth and liquidy

After you make the Marinade Sauce, marinate the beef in a large bowl with the sauce for 15 minutes in room temperature (or 30 minute in the fridge if you have time)

While I was marinating the beef, my dreadful time of the day came: Slicing the Onion. I love cooking and this is the one thing I hate about it, playing around with the onion. I had to stop a couple of times because my eyes were on fire. 

Also while waiting, I sorta "steamed" the bok choy in another medium pan. Heat the pan above medium heat, and place the vegs in it and pour the 1/4 cup of water, and let it simmer for about 3 minutes. What I found out about this is that it makes your veg still crunchy after you stir fry it.   

Once you're ready, heat up the oil in skillet or wok on HIGH heat and add the beef. Cook and stir fry it until it's medium well and add the onion.

 I don't know if it's just me, but every time I stir fry meat, the juices starts coming out, looking it like stew. I'm not really a fan of the juices, so I let it evaporate for about 20 - 25 minutes, until it dries up, while continuing to stir the meat, so they won't get too cooked. Another way my mum told me is that you can just pour out the juices once they come so the meat dries & gets fried faster, but my pan is too heavy for me (or maybe I just don't have the muscles for it, hah!)

Once the juices are dried up and the meat looks yummy, add the Bok Choy to the pan and continue to stir fry the dish for another 5 minutes. 

 Now grab a bowl of white rice (this time I cooked my rice with chicken broth. Wow. What a difference in flavor!) and topped it with your beef & bok choy and enjoy. If you decided to just stir fry the beef without the veg, I recommend pairing it with KIMCHI (my favorite!!!) or Persian Cucumber and Sambal Oelek or Sambal Badjak (I guess it's an Indo thing. I love cucumber with my dish)