On Saturday night I visited the Queens Night Market for the first time ever, and I was completely blown away. I heard about it for the first time last year and had been interested in going, but I wasn’t prepared for the staggering array of vendors and the general energy of the place. On Saturday nights, the parking lot of the Queens Science Museum gets filled with food stalls, each selling a handful of different options all for about $6, and people storm the place. Lines snake every which way, a live band plays, kids run underfoot and everyone is chowing down.

I loaded up on Korean, Persian, Bengali, Burmese, Taiwanese and Moldovan specialties and loved it all. And as I sat down to eat my Burmese tea leaf salad, I felt so grateful to live in a city where I have access to the foods of so many cultures and where so many people like me are excited by and interested in trying new foods. Interested enough to take the notoriously infuriating 7 train to the last stop on a Saturday night and wait in very long lines for Filipino lumpia.

I didn’t have any crisp Chinese beef on Saturday, but this dish reminds me of something you COULD find at the night market. It might seem intimidating to quickly deep fry thin slices of cornstarch-coated beef in a wok, but don’t let it deter you. It’s actually a very easy technique and when you eat it you’ll recognize the crunch and the chew as something you’ve had before.

You could serve this with rice, or you could serve it with these puffy, slightly sweet Beijing-style buns, which, per Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking, is the traditional pairing. They are very easy to put together (remember that any time you’re working with yeast, you’ll need a bit of an early start to accommodate the rounds of proofing) and perfectly complement the texture of the beef and soak up all the sauce.

The best news is that if you’re not lucky enough to live in New York City (or consider yourself lucky NOT to live here!), all the ingredients you’ll need to recreate your own Chinese night market stall can be found at your local supermarket or online.

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Chinese Crisp Beef and Beijing Baked Breads

Category: Main Course

Servings: Makes 16 buns and 4 servings of beef

I've included the recipes sequentially, in case you are just making the beef, or just the buns. But both need to be started ahead of time, so if you're making both, read first so you can decide where to start marinating the beef.

Ingredients

    For the Beef:
  • 12 oz. flank steak
  • 3/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon lightly beaten egg white
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 3 1/2 cups peanut oil
  • 2 teaspoons minced peeled ginger
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Sichuan peppercorn paste (recipe below)
  • 1/2 cup shredded carrots
  • 2/3 cup julienned white portion scallions
  • 1 tablespoon hot bean sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sweet bean sauce
  • 2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot pepper oil
  • 2 tablespoons finely sliced green portion of scallions
    For the Sichuan Peppercorn Oil:
  • 1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns
  • 3 tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
  • 2/3 cup finely sliced scallions
    For the Beijing Baked Breads:
  • 1 package (1/4 oz.) active dry yeast
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup warm water (110°F)
  • 2 1/2 cups Pillsbury Best Bread Flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 jumbo egg, lightly beaten (1/4 cup)
  • 7 tablespoons lard, at room temperature, or peanut oil
  • 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water for an egg wash
  • 1/4 cup white sesame seeds
  • 3 tablespoons scallion oil

Instructions

  1. First make the Sichuan peppercorn paste, place all the ingredients in a small bowl, preferably stainless steel, and crush to a coarse paste with the handle of a cleaver. Or, use a mortar and pestle. Store in a tightly covered container in a refrigerator up to 3 days. This makes 1/2 cup of paste, so you'll have extra.
  2. Now get started on the buns. In a large bowl, mix the yeast and sugar in the warm water, dissolving them. Set the bowl in a warm place for 30 minutes to 1 hour, or until the mixture rises and a brownish foam appears on the surface. (Because weather and temperature can affect the progress, the timing cannot be more precise.) The cooler the outdoor temperature, the longer the time.
  3. Add the flour, baking powder, egg and lard to the yeast mixture. Continuously stir the mixture with your hand until well mixed, then knead in the bowl for about 5 minutes, or until a cohesive, elastic dough forms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, set it in a warm place and allow the dough to rise for 2 to 4 hours, or until tripled in size. (Again, the cooler the outdoor temperature, the longer the time.)
  4. To form the breads, cut sixteen 3-inch squares of waxed paper and place the squares in a single layer on a baking sheet. Remove the dough from the bowl to a work surface, sprinkle it lightly with flour, and knead it for about 10 minutes. This increases the elasticity. Using your palms, roll the dough into a log 16 inches long. Cut the log into 1-inch pieces. Form each piece into a ball, and place each ball on a waxed-paper square. Let the balls rise, uncovered, in a warm place for about 1 hour. They will increase in size by about one-third. About 20 minutes before the balls are ready, preheat the oven to 350°F.
  5. Spray each ball with a fine mist of warm water, then brush with the egg wash and sprinkle evenly with the sesame seeds. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, or until the breads are browned. About halfway through the baking time, rotate the baking sheet sheet front to back to ensure even browning.
  6. Remove from the oven. The breads tend to cool quickly and their crusts harden. To keep them sort and to add some faint flavor, brush them with the scallion oil. Serve warm.
  7. To make the beef, slice the flank steak across the grain into precise strips each 3 inches long by 1/4 inch wide and 1/4 inch thick. Place the beef in a bowl, add all of the coating ingredients, and toss together to coat evenly. Cover and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
  8. Add the egg white and cornstarch to the beef mixture, mix well, and let rest for 10 minutes more.
  9. Heat a wok over high heat for 1 minute. Add the peanut oil and heat to 375°F on a deep-frying thermometer. Add the coated beef and deep-fry, loosening the strips of meat with chopsticks to keep them separate, for 3 minutes, or until medium brown. Turn off the heat. Remove the beef with a Chinese strainer and drain well.
  10. Heat the oil again to 375°F. Place the beef back into the wok and deep-fry again for 3 minutes, or until crisp. Turn off the heat, remove the beef with the strainer, and drain well.
  11. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil from the wok and heat over high heat for 15 seconds. When a wisp of white smoke appears, add the ginger, garlic and peppercorn paste and stir for about 1 minute, or until the paste releases its fragrance. Add the carrots and stir for 30 seconds. Add the white portion of scallions and stir for 30 seconds. Add the beef, mix well and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the hot bean sauce, sweet bean sauce, sugar and hot pepper oil, mix well and stir-fry for 1 1/2 minutes, or until well combined and all of the ingredients are hot.
  12. Turn off the heat. Transfer to a heated platter, sprinkle with the green portions of scallions and serve with the breads.

Notes

https://www.thekitchenchronicles.com/2019/06/25/chinese-crisp-beef-and-beijing-baked-breads/