Pepper Steak - Lisa Style

Yesterday, it was officially chilly! Party on! The leaves are starting to turn colors as well.. happy! happy! I think the cooler weather had something to do with the little extra energy I had left after another long day at work - so I decided to make a nice dinner. One of Hubbs' favorites, my pepper steak. Originally I made this with just beef, peppers and tomatoes. But one day I had quite a few veggies laying in my crisper drawer of the fridge and decided, "What the hell", and just chopped them all up and threw them in.. and then I discovered all the lil goodies in the ethnic aisle of my grocery store and dumped them in as well - so I don't know exactly what you'd call this dish now. It's more than a stir-fry because of the rich brown sauce, but it's definitely not just peppers and steak anymore! heeee! It's the best pepper steak we've ever had though - and it rivals any good Asian restaurant that Hubbs has had pepper steak in (it's all he'll order most times). The only bitch of it is all the chopping. At least it might be for someone.. chopping/dicing is very relaxing for me.. especially since I bought a good knife last year - now I don't mind mincing garlic and chopping onions anymore ;) If you have the means, I totally recommend the Füri Gusto Grip 7" East/West knife. I noticed Rachel using it on her shows and how she just whipped through everything she was chopping so I bought one and I'm glad I did.. it's a great knife, in my humble opinion. ;) This "pepper steak" needs no added soy or salt - the amount of soy used in the marinade for the steak and what's used for the sauce is plenty to season the dish - and I like that a lot as I'm not fond of adding extra sodium to Asian dishes which include soy. The sauce turns thick while it boils and the taste is just awesome.. rich and yummy! The veggies turn out perfectly cooked, slightly crisp and the beef is extremely tender. Now that would likely depend on which cut of beef you are going to use. The better the cut of meat the better your pepper steak will turn out. Duh. I use sirloin steak, but one day I discovered something called "Spencer steaks" - to this day, I'm not sure exactly what cut of beef this is, but it's economical and very tasty, and I'll use it when the store doesn't have a good selection of sirloin in the meat case (am so picky). I cut the fat off the little spencer steaks and then into bite sized chunks. You stir-fry the beef first - and at that point I just cook them to rare. You'll then add it back in after the veggies have cooked for a few minutes and while the sauce thickens, which will not allow your meat to cook to well done and get tough. Pepper Steak - Lisa Style 2 tsp. beef bouillon granules 1 c. boiling water 2 TBS. cornstarch 1/3 c. soy sauce + additional soy sauce 1 lb. boneless sirloin steak, cut into bite sized chunks 4 garlic cloves, minced 1 tsp. minced ginger 1 tsp. ground black pepper 2 TBS. vegetable oil, divided 3 bell peppers, cut into bite sized chunks 1 c. sliced carrots 1 c. sliced celery 5 green onions, sliced into bite sized pieces 1 c. sliced mushrooms (doesn't matter which kind, I use shitake) 1 can baby corn 1 can bamboo shoots 1 can diced tomatoes (or 2 fresh tomatoes, diced) Hot cooked rice Toss beef with garlic, ginger and enough soy sauce to coat. Set aside for 30 minutes to marinate. Dissolve bouillon in water. Combine cornstarch and soy sauce until smooth; add to bouillon. Set aside. In a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat, stir-fry beef in 1 TBS. of vegetable oil until cooked as desired. Remove from heat and keep warm. Heat remaining oil; stir-fry veggies until crisp-tender. Stir soy sauce mixture and add to the wok; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Return beef to pan and heat through. Serve over rice. *Note: Add whatever veggies you like. For instance, the pepper steak last night also had one lonely little zucchini that needed to be used and I didn't have green onions so I subbed 1/2 of a vidalia. This will make a boat load of pepper steak - most definitely at least 4 generous servings. Since it's just the two of us, I freeze what's left over (sans rice) and heat up for a quick meal another night. It really freezes well.