Hot and Peppery Beef

1) Cut beef in 2 chunks, scallion in lengths, ginger root in slices and dried chilli in 1-inch sections.

Roast sesame on dry pan until it becomes crisp and smells good.

2) Rub beef with salt (1/2 teaspoon), mix with scallion (2 tablespoons), ginger root (1 tablespoon) and cooking wine (1 tablespoon) and let set for an hour. Steam beef in a closed steamer on high flame until tender. Cool and cut in strips of 1.1/4 inches long by 3/8 inches square.

3) Heat fry pan and pour in peanut oil. When the oil begins to smoke, fry beef strips until quite dry. Drain.

Keep a little oil (about 2 tablespoons) in pan and fry Chinese peppercorn until burnt. Remove and throw away pepper. Put in chilli and fry until dark purple. Add scallion lengths (2 tablespoons) and ginger slices (1/2 tablespoon). Fry a little. Pour in 3/4 cups of boiling water, soya sauce, salt (1/2 teaspoon), cooking wine (1 tablespoon) and sugar. Follow with the fried beef strips. Boil to reduce the sauce and season with gourmet powder. When the sauce is rather dry, pour chilli oil on top and sprinkle on sesame. Toss a few times. Pick out chilli, scallion and ginger while eating.

Notes:

(1) This dish may be served either warm or cold.

(2) Another method to cook the beef is not to steam it but to have it deep-fried, i.e., marinate beef with the same seasonings as in step 2, plus some soya sauce; deep-fry beef in hot oil till the meat is dry; follow the rest of the steps.

(3) A well-known item of Sichuan cuisine with a prickly, hot and aromatic flavor, the finished dish should be bright and reddish brown in color.