Sha Cha Beef

Easy beef stir fried with a under rated Sha Cha Sauce (沙茶牛肉).

What’s Sha Cha Sauce

Sha cha sauce (沙茶酱) is a combined sauce from ChaoZhou area in Guangdong, China. With a savory and a slightly spicy taste, it has been widely used in Fujian cusine, Teochew cuisine and Taiwan area.

My first meating with Sha Cha sauce is on a Teochew beef hot pot table. I love the taste of sha cha sauce with tender beef slices. After tried with different restaurants, I find that they have their unique Sha Cha sauce recipes and flavors. In general, Sha Cha sauce is made from soybean oil, garlic, shallots, chilies, brill fish and dried shrimp. But different portions create slightly different flavors. I believe Szechuan style chili oil shares the same features. Returning home, I am always trying to find the best Sha cha product. Among all the brands, Bull head from Taiwan wins my heart and has been stored in my kitchen cabinet around the year.

The common serving way of sha cha beef is to serve with blanched vegetables, usually Yu Choy (油菜心) or Chinese broccoli (芥蓝). Although simply blanched with salt and vegetable oil, they can be turned as the best part of the dish. On one hand, all of the remaining sauce dropping from the meat can make tastes of those vegetable very naughty. On the other hand, they can make the dish more balanced in nutrition. But you need to peel off tough skins on the stem in order to achieve a tender and crunchy texture.

Cook’s Note about making tender beef stir fry

1. cut the beef slice as thin as possibly if you are using cheap cuts.
2. Well marinate beef slices to make the inside juicy and form a well protecting shell outside.
3. Cook a small batch each time and make sure all of the beef slices are cooked within a short period.
4. Prepare your steamed rice previously or you can use plain cooked noodles, or steamed buns. The beef should be served immediately once done.

Ingredients

• 150g beef steak, thinly sliced
• 1 small bunch of Yu Choy or Chinese broccoli
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
• ¼ tsp. ground pepper
• ¼ tsp. sugar
• ½ tbsp. Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine)
• 2 tbsp. water or stock
• 3 tsp. corn starch
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• vegetable cooking oil, as needed
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp. sha cha sauce

Steps

Cut the beef into slices. Marinate with all the marinating seasonings for 15 minutes.

Then mix cornstarch and sesame oil, just before start frying.

Blanch the vegetables | bring a large pot of water to a boiling and then add a small pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook for 10-15 seconds until the vegetables are almost cooked. Do not kill the vegetable.

Add cooking oil in a large pan until the oil can evenly cover the bottom of the pan. spread the beef slices in. Let them stay for around 3-5 seconds and gently stir them several times until the color changes. Transfer the beef out immediately once the surface colors changes and leave around 1 tablespoon of the oil in. Save the extra oil for vegetable stir frying.

Fry garlic and sha cha sauce for around 30 seconds until aromatic. Add beef and mix well.

Transfer the beef slices to the serving plate with blanched vegetables.

Beef with Sha Cha Sauce

Sha Cha beef–stir-fried beef slices with sha cha sauce

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: Beef, Sha Cha

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 150kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

• 150 g beef steak thinly sliced
• 1 small bunch of Yu Choy or Chinese broccoli

Marinating

• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
• ½ tbsp. light soy sauce
• ¼ tsp. ground pepper
• ¼ tsp. sugar
• ½ tbsp. Chinese cooking wine ,Shaoxing wine
• 2 tbsp. water or stock
• 3 tsp. corn starch
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Stir-frying

• vegetable cooking oil ,as needed
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp. sha cha sauce

Instructions

• Cut the beef into slices. Marinate with all the marinating seasonings for 15 minutes.
• Blanch the vegetables | bring a large pot of water to a boiling and then add a small pinch of salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook for 10-15 seconds until the vegetables are almost cooked. Do not kill the vegetable.
• Add cooking oil in a large pan until the oil can evenly cover the bottom of the pan. spread the beef slices in. Let them stay for around 3-5 seconds and gently stir them several times until the color changes. Transfer the beef out immediately once the surface colors changes and leave around 1 tablespoon of the oil in. Save the extra oil for vegetable stir frying.
• Fry garlic and sha cha sauce for around 30 seconds until aromatic. Add beef and mix well.
• Transfer the beef slices to the serving plate with blanched vegetables.

Nutrition

Serving: 2g | Calories: 150kcal | Carbohydrates: 21g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 3g | Sodium: 1164mg | Potassium: 1236mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 19390IU | Vitamin C: 200.2mg | Calcium: 454mg | Iron: 3.6mg

Serve with steamed rice.