Stir-fried black pepper beef with green peppers
2 to 4
Easy
20 minutes
10 minutes
This is quite a classic dish. Traditionally, in a Chinese restaurant, a cheaper cut of meat will be used and tenderised with bicarbonate of soda before stir-frying. The meat is tender but loses whatever it is that makes it beef. If you are going to make this, ensure you use good-quality beef, as the black pepper goes so well with it, making you reach for that second bowl of rice!
Ingredients
Method
- 250 g rib-eye or sirloin steak
- 1½ t cornflour
- 2 t light soy sauce
- 2 t whole black peppercorns
- 3 T vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 large green pepper, cut into 2-cm dice
- 1 medium onion, cut into 2-cm dice
- rice, for serving For the sauce:
- 1 T oyster sauce
- 1 T Shaoxing rice wine
- 1 t light soy sauce
- 1 t dark soy sauce
- 1 t white sugar
- 1 t sesame oil
Method
Ingredients
1. To make it easier to cut the beef, place it in the freezer for 15 minutes, then remove and slice into 5-mm strips. Coat the beef with the cornflour and light soy sauce and set aside to marinate while you prepare the vegetables and sauce.
2. Coarsely crush the whole peppercorns in a pestle and mortar. If you don’t have one, place them in a freezer bag and crush them with a rolling pin.
3. Mix all the ingredients for the sauce in a bowl and set aside.
4. In a wok or frying pan, heat 1 T vegetable oil over a high heat until it is smoking. Add the marinated beef and move it around the pan quickly, so that all the pieces are broken up and in one layer. You want to move them around the wok so the high heat sears the beef. Remove the beef after 30–40 seconds. You might still have some rare beef, which is what we are aiming for.
5. Turn the heat under the pan down to medium and add the remaining oil. Add the crushed black pepper and garlic. Stir-fry for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Be careful not to burn them.
6. Throw in the green pepper and onion. At this point, you can increase the heat a bit and fry for a couple of minutes so the vegetables soften a little but remain crunchy.
7. Add the beef back in along with the sauce and mix to incorporate well. Continue cooking for a minute until the beef is evenly coated with the sauce. I like mine still a little rare so that it will be tender and soft. You can cook it a little more if you like it well done but be careful not to overcook.
8. Serve with the rice of your choice.
Photographer: © Sam Folan 2026
Extracted with permission from Rice by Ping Coombes is published by Murdoch Books, and distributed by Jonathan Ball Publishers in South Africa.
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