Thit Bo Sao Dau

This morning I knew I wanted to make something new for dinner, so I brought a few new foodie magazines I've recieved recently, to browse for tonight. Before the day got too crazy, I cruised over to I HATE BROCCOLI. I didn't even need the magazines!

In a great little story about the dentist, Rachel Ray and having recipes with multiple endings, Mr. I Hate Broccoli gives us his recipe, that he's pulled off the web.

In a nut shell, what we have here is stir fried beef with green beans in a brown sauce. Of course, I have no idea what the actual translation is of the name, but I do know that it was tasty good and super easy!

Thit Bo Sao Dau
From I Hate Broccoli

This is the master recipe I use. I use the technique and process to formulate other similar meals. By adding or subtracting just one or two ingredients you'll find myriad of potential dishes. This serves four but can easily be halved.

1 clove garlic, minced
black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon cornstarch
4 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 pound beef sirloin tips, thinly sliced
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
2 cups fresh green beans, washed and trimmed
1/4 cup beef stock, from a can (unless you've got the real thing, then lucky you)
1 teaspoon soy sauce

-- Combine garlic, pepper, cornstarch and 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil in a bowl and mix well. Add the beef, making sure to coat well.

-- In a large frying pan, heat 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil over high heat. Add the meat to the hot oil and brown on one side, about two to three minutes. Stir the meat quickly, let it heat another 30 seconds to a minute, and transfer to a clean bowl. Forget about it for a couple minutes.

-- In the same pan you just cooked the meat in, add the remaining 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil, and then add the onion. The onion will cook fast, so be careful not to burn it. Cook the onion until it becomes translucent and tender.

-- Put the green beans in the pan, and add the beef stock. Stir the stock, scraping up any bits that stuck to the bottom of the pan up. Because there will be cornstarch residue from the beef in the pan, the stock will start to thicken like a sauce. Turn the heat to medium, cover, and let sauce reduce, for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until the beans are tender and crisp.

-- Stir in the beef and the soy sauce, stir constantly and cook for about a minute or two, or until heated through. If the sauce gets too thick, add a little more stock to thin it out.

-- Serve over rice, though any pasta like farfalle (bowties), conchiglie (seashells) or orecchiette (ears) will do just fine.

My Notes:
I loved this. Easy, fast and tasty.

*I probably had a bit more of the green beans and a little less of the beef, but that's OK.
*I added about half an inch of fresh grated ginger and 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes, I'd use more ginger next time.
*I used about 1/2 cup of beef broth and would probably use more, to make things more saucy.
*I'd do 2 tsp of soy for bit more flava.
*We served this with "ginger scented jasmine rice." I threw the last little knob of ginger and some of the peel in the water before the rice. Whatev.., didn't bring much to the party.
*Oh, and I used two cloves of garlic.
*I threw the sirloin tips in the freezer for about 1/2 an hour to firm it up, to make it easier to sliced thinly.

Thanks again Mr. I Hate Broccoli! If you head over to his site, you'll see a variation of the recipe with chicken, peas and cream.

UPDATE: made this again with a new suggestion: 1 TB Hoisin Sauce! YUM. See Photo here.