Shenzhen, China

Shacha Beef

沙茶牛肉

Shenzhen, China— Hanzhang Lai

The essence of shacha beef is shacha sauce and beef. Shacha sauce has many varieties; for us (Teochew shacha), it originated from Southeast Asian satay sauce. "Tay" sounds like "tea" in the Teochew language — "cha." "Shacha" is the Mandarin Chinese spelling.

Teochew people have historically been migrating away from central China to avoid warfare since thousands of years ago, and many settled in coastal areas. In the past few hundred years, many sailed away from mainland China to seek economic opportunities, and a lot of people — my own grandfather included — went to Southeast Asia. The strong connection with their roots drove many of these people to return to China after they made their fortune overseas, and satay sauce was a product of that.

Both my cousin and I grew up in Shenzhen, a developed coastal city that is a two-hour drive from our parents' hometown, the Teochew region. This dish is my uncle's best "show-off" dish that he would cook every holiday season. My cousin missed home a lot when he went to Tokyo for graduate studies, so he asked his parents for the recipe and shared the cooking with his friends. Some friends loved it so much that he wrote it down with sketches — which is why it is in Japanese.

Ingredients

~400g beef 4 bell peppers Potato starch Oil Salt Soy sauce Shacha sauce (沙茶酱)

Method

1) Wash the bell peppers and cut them. 2) Cut the beef into pieces and slice against the grain. Each slice should be about 2mm thick. 3) Put the sliced beef into a bowl. Add an appropriate amount of soy sauce and salt, then mix well (stir clockwise). 4) Add potato starch and shacha sauce, then mix. After that, add a little oil to prevent the beef from sticking. 5) Heat oil in a pan, add the beef, and quickly stir-fry. 6) When the beef turns slightly pale, add about 200ml of water, then add the bell peppers. 7) Stir-fry for about 30 seconds, and it's ready.