Stir fried beef with green chilies

Why do all Chinese people cook so well? All my chinese friends in Germany are great cooks! They always told me that back in China, they never cook or even help out in the kitchen. Either they were lying or there's just something in their gene. Do they really have some special chromosomes to enable them to taste and cook built inside their DNA? If so, I want one please!

One of my friends from China, HY, is one of them. He is a very talented cook, even more than the average Chinese. His great great great uncle was a cook in the Royal Palace, or so he told me. He keeps telling me that Chinese food in Berlin is inedible. He is so talented that he can easily cook the dishes that he ate in restaurants by only tasting them once. Of course I didn't believe him and I asked for proof, and boy did he proof me wrong. He invited me more than once to his home and cooked at least 4 dishes each time. Everytime he cooks, I would watch him closely and take notes of everything he does around the kitchen. I must say, the way he handles his wok and fire, and the way he prepares his food is so above par that I sadly can't imitate. So, I'm always grateful for his invitations since I always leave full and happy after his meals that I can't do nothing but rub my ever expanding tummy gleefully.

I have the honour of watching him cook last week. Here is his version of stir fried beef with green peppers. Sorry about the measurements, but like most great chefs, he never measured anything. Once I asked him about the measurements, he laughed so hard and said something like "a cook needs to feel the ingredients flowing out of his hands".

Stir fried beef with green peppers

Beef fillet
some green peppers,
a lot of cooking oil
Shao Xing wine
Oyster sauce
dark mushroom soy sauce
light soy sauce
starch
meat tenderizer
a bit sugar
sesame oil
black sesame seeds

• Sliced beef fillet into thin strips and marinade them in soy sauce, oyster sauce, starch, meat tenderizer, sugar and sesame oil. Put them into the fridge for about 30 min -1 hour
• Heat up a wok and pour in around 1 cup cooking oil. Once the oil is hot enough (you'll see smoke rising up) put in the marinated beef strips into the cooking oil. Stir them untill the beef browned. Transfer the beef into another plate and pour away the excess oil.
• Leave around 2 Tbs of oil in the wok and once it heats up, put the green peppers into the wok. Stir fry for 5 seconds, you want the green chilies to be crunchy, not soggy
• Transfer the cooked beef into the wok with the fried peppers and lightly salt them
  
• Garnish with black sesame seeds
  

Beef bone soup with radish

It's been such a cold winter here in Berlin. The temperature even hit -20°C at the beginning of January. Now it's mid-February and there's still no sign of spring. Maybe Hades wants to keep Persephone a bit longer this year since the slippery snow from Christmas is still out there causing trouble and accidents for all Berliners. I think the way to fight this freezing weather is through my dinner of piping hot soup. They are simple, tasty, healthy (you can never go wrong with veggies right?) and meaty (I'm a true omnivore).

I prepared the beef bone broth the night before since I don't want to come home from the lab, hungry as a dog, and still need to wait 2 hours to brew my soup. My sis said that it's too much work for a soup, but I say it's a price to pay for a delicious, edible meal. It's no different than those women who wake up at 5 in the morning to doll themselves up before going to work, right?

Anyhow, this recipe is as simple as abc


Beef bone soup with radish

• Put beef bones in boiling water, once the water boils again pour away the foamy dark soup, (they come from the leftover dried blood in the bones). This step is necessary to obtain a clear broth.
• Boil the cooked beef in fresh water with garlic and ginger for 2 hours or until the meat are tender, no salt is necessary in this step, as salt hardens the meat
• Peel and slice the radish into half moon size and, put them into the broth
• Now salt the soup and add a pinch (a pinch! not a tea spoon) MSG to taste
• The soup is ready! Serve once the radish is translucent. Garnish with sliced scallions