Orange Beef Is Perfect for Chinese New Year Even Though It Is The Year Of The Rabbit | Vicki James

Photo by Gary Bendig on Unsplash

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2023 is the year of the Rabbit.  Kick it off in style with Orange Beef which is a classic Chinese dish. If you don’t like beef, you can make it with chicken or pork and it would be equally delicious. Can you make it with Rabbit? I don’t know because I have not tried it. With that said, I am sticking with the beef.

When I told my husband I was making Orange Beef, he did not seem terribly excited.   This is not his dish of choice when we order Chinese food.  Once he tried it, however, he said it was outstanding – far and away the best Orange Beef he had ever eaten.  Thank Sam Sifton at the New York Times for this great recipe.  If you don’t already subscribe to the New York Times cooking website, you should.  It’s only a few dollars a month and they will auto bill you.  I find some of my best recipes on that site.

Orange Beef-Photograph by Stuart James

 The author shamelessly admits that this recipe is American Chinese and not an authentic recipe.  Okay by me.  It’s delicious and I didn’t have to track down any strange ingredients that weren’t available at my local grocery store.  The recipe was not complex but the flavors were.  If you’re watching your salt intake, beware. It has 1294 milligrams of sodium per serving.  But if you’re watching your calories, it’s only a minor splurge at 450 calories.  Definitely worth it.  There is no msg in the recipe, which is one of the great advantages of making Chinese food at home.  Have I convinced you to try it?  If so, here we go:

Ingredients

 1 ½ pounds of beef, cut into 2” long, thin strips.  The recipe calls for rib eye steak, but I picked up eye of the round pre-cut for stir frying and it was delicious.  I see no reason to go for the more expensive cut.

 1 tbsp. plus ¼ cup neutral oil, divided 

 1 ½  inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and minced

 1 jalapeño pepper, minced

 2 tbsps. of orange zest, plus the juice of the orange – in other words, you need to purchase an orange so you have everything you need.

 3 garlic cloves minced

 ¼ cup light brown sugar

 ¼ cup unseasoned rice vinegar

 ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce

 1 tbsp. fish sauce

 Dried red chilies or sambal oelek

 One egg white

1 tbsp cornstarch

 One bunch of green onions

 Directions

1.     Heat one tablespoon of oil in a saucepan on medium high heat.   When it gets hot and shimmering, add the minced ginger, orange zest, and jalapeño.  Cook, stirring often for about two to three minutes.  Watch it carefully so that the orange zest does not burn and become bitter.  Add garlic and continue to cook, stirring for one to two minutes more.

2.       Add the orange juice, brown sugar, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and fish sauce.  Bring the mixture to a boil and lower the heat to medium.  Allow the sauce to reduce for approximately 15 minutes.

3.     Combine the beef strips with egg white and cornstarch.   Heat the ¼ cup of oil until it shimmers.  Fry the beef in the skillet or wok, very quickly, for 60 to 90 seconds on each side, until browned.  You may need to do it in two batches.  If so, you may need to add a little more oil for the second batch.  Remove browned beef to a plate.  Turn off the heat for a few minutes so that the sauce will not burn when you add it to the skillet.

4.     Chop the green onions into thin slices until you have one half cup.  Turn heat back on and pour the sauce into the skillet.  Cook until thickened.  Note:  some reviewers did not think the sauce thickened enough.  Forewarned, I combined one tsp. of cornstarch and one teaspoon of water and added it to the reduced sauce while it was still in the sauce pan and cooked it until thickened.  You could also add it when you pour the sauce into the skillet.

5.     Return the meat to the skillet.  Add a few dried red chili peppers, but if you don’t have any, stir a teaspoon of sambal oelek into the sauce before you return the meat to the pan.  Add ¼ cup of thinly sliced scallions.  Cook for a few minutes until the beef is warmed and the sauce is the desired consistency.

6.     Serve over rice or cauliflower rice, and garnish with chopped green onions.

 I think you will be amazed by the depth and complexity of the flavors.  Although the flavors are intense, the flavor of the orange is quite mild.  It simply blends into the delicious sauce but doesn’t assert itself.  My husband loved it for that very reason.  Several reviewers of the Times recipe didn’t think it had enough orange flavor or enough sweetness.  I think this could be remedied by adding a tablespoon of orange marmalade to the sauce.  If you try this, I recommend adding it before you add any additional cornstarch as thickener, because the marmalade may thicken it enough.  One reviewer always adds some orange juice concentrate.  Just taste the sauce as you make it and adjust accordingly.  But I promise, it is delicious as written.

Vicki James