Spicy Sweet Asian Beef

Ever come across a recipe that you think will be just "ho hum" but you want to try something different so you make you and then...BOOM!  Sparklers go off, a marching band trumps through your kitchen and the heavens open up and a beam of glorious light sprays across your stove?  Yeah...I had that last night when I made this recipe from Jennalaughs.com  

I mean, just LOOK at that picture for crying out loud!  The rich, spicy, sweet beefy sauce just beckons to me to remake it tomorrow.  I could, in all seriousness, eat this once a day & not ever get bored.
 
Her friend named it Sweet Meat w/ Peas and upon making it, I had to edit it since it did not capture the true essence of this dish.  Its sweet, yes, due to the brown sugar.  But after you get that initial sweetness, your tongue gets hit with the warm, spicy garlic and salty soy and then it finishes with a lovely beefy undertone that just lingers with each bite.  Ohhh...its just... FOODGASMIC.  Oh and there surely ARE peas in there but you won't even notice.  Even if you don't like peas or your kids fuss about eating greens (raise your hand if you hate greens!  *raise*), this is a wonderful way to sneak them in.  They don't even taste like peas because of the sauce but they do add a lovely pop of color.  Next time I make this, I think I will add some carrots and diced onion just to ramp up the goodness and add some crunch factor.  In all honesty, I've never made anything Asian flavored at home that turned out so spectacular as this.  I'm beyond impressed.

Just of note...Jenna says in her blog post that this recipe served 6/7 people.  So what I did was halved the meat amount to 1.5 pounds of meat instead of 3 BUT I kept the sauce amount the same since hubby and I both like to drown our rice in extra sauce.  Were I making it for 6/7 people, I think I'd double the sauce amount but that's totally a preference thing I guess.  I just like my steamed rice to get a good helping of sauce to flavor it.  Your call though!  I also thickened my sauce in the end with some Wondra as I thought it was still a bit too thin for my liking.  Oh..and I used stock but broth is cool too.  Whichever you have, but I like stock as it is richer in flavor.  *shrug*  Anyways, PLEASE check out her blog at JennaLaughs.com ...she's really cute and totally in love and I spent a whole flu-filled day in bed reading all about her budding romance and looking at her gorgeous pictures. 

Spicy Sweet Asian Beef

via Jenna @ JennaLaughs.com

2 or 3 pounds of beef strips
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 14oz. can of beef broth (I used stock)
1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup frozen peas
Salt and pepper, to taste

Heat a large skillet over high heat. Pour in oil and cook the beef strips in batches, about 10 strips at a time. Only cook them for a few minutes on each side until browned. The hot skillet will sear the juices into the strips. Between each batch, put the strips on a plate or a bowl, then set aside to make the sauce.

Lower the heat and remove any extra oil you may have left over from browning the beef. Then add 2 cloves of minced garlic. Cook for a few minutes. Pour in beef broth, soy sauce, water and brown sugar. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Continue cooking on low heat for 5-7 minutes, until the sauce thickens a bit.

Season with salt and pepper. Then add cooked beef strips and peas. Cook for a few more minutes on low heat, until the peas are warmed through. Serve over rice with extra spoonfuls of sauce.