This orange beef dish (chun pi niu in mandarin) is a nice change of pace, with really interesting, complex flavors. One important ingredient is the dried mandarin orange peel. The 5-spice powder and dried mandarin orange peel favors complement each other and the addition of dried red chili peppers gives it just enough heat it needs.
Marinating wit h orange marmalade and frying the beef infuses the beef with orange flavor. Add broccoli florets and a rich sauce flavored with dried orange peels and you have a delicious meal served with rice.
dried orange peels are easy to make as long as you can find fresh mandarin oranges, tangerines, or clementines. All you do is peel the fruit and scrape as much of the white pith off the rind as you can and let dry on a sunny windowsill for a few days. They keep well in a glass jar for up to 6 months. Don’t try drying regular orange peels because the flavor is not as concentrated and the skin is too thick which will result in the dried peel being too bitter. Tangerine or mandarin orange peels work best as they are quite thin and packed full of flavor.
Here’s the complete recipe!
To marinate the beef:
- 12 oz. flank steak
- 2 teaspoons oil
- 1/8 teaspoon five spice powder
- 1 teaspoon orange marmalade
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (optional tenderizer)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons flour
To assemble:
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup of beef stock
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 7 whole dried red chili peppers
- 5 small pieces dried Mandarin orange or tangerine peel
- 1 star anise
- 1 clove minced garlic
- ½ cup sliced red bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Slice the beef into 2 to 3-inch pieces, each about a 1/2 inch thick. Place the beef between layers of plastic wrap and whack them with a rolling pin until about ¼ inch thick. Combine 2 teaspoons oil, five spice powder, orange marmalade, salt, baking soda and cornstarch and marinate the beef in the mixture. Then dredge the beef in the flour.
Blanch the broccoli for about 20 seconds and rinse in cold water. Drain and set aside. Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and set that aside as well. In another bowl, stir together beef stock, wine, light and dark soy, salt, sugar, and white pepper.
Next, heat the wok over high heat until smoking slightly. Add a tablespoon of oil to coat the wok and sear the slices of beef for a minute on each side. Remove the beef from the wok. Reheat the wok over medium heat and add another tablespoon of oil, dried hot chili peppers, orange peels and the star anise.
Allow the aromatics to infuse the oil for a minute and add your minced garlic and bell peppers. Quickly, pour in the stock mixture and allow it to come to a boil. Slowly add your cornstarch slurry until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon. Add the orange zest, beef and the blanched broccoli florets and toss well until everything is coated. Add more stock if the mixture is too thick and add more cornstarch slurry of the sauce is too thin.
Plate and serve over rice!
- 12 oz. flank steak
- 2 teaspoons oil
- ⅛ teaspoon five spice powder
- 1 teaspoon orange marmalade
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (optional tenderizer)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons flour
- 3 cups broccoli florets
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 cup of beef stock
- 1 tablespoon shaoxing wine
- 1 tablespoon light soy
- 1 teaspoon dark soy
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon white pepper
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 7 whole dried red chili peppers
- 5 small pieces dried Mandarin orange or tangerine peel
- 1 star anise
- 1 clove minced garlic
- ½ cup sliced red bell pepper
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
- Slice the beef into 2 to 3-inch pieces, each about a ½ inch thick. Place the beef between layers of plastic wrap and whack them with a rolling pin until about ¼ inch thick. Combine 2 teaspoons oil, five spice powder, orange marmalade, salt, baking soda and cornstarch and marinate the beef in the mixture. Next, dredge the beef in the flour.
- Blanch the broccoli for about 20 seconds and rinse in cold water. Drain and set aside. Mix a tablespoon of cornstarch with a tablespoon of water and set that aside as well. In another bowl, stir together beef stock, wine, light and dark soy, salt, sugar, and white pepper.
- Next, heat the wok over high heat until smoking slightly. Add a tablespoon of oil to coat the wok and sear the slices of beef for a minute on each side. Remove the beef from the wok. Reheat the wok over medium heat and add another tablespoon of oil, dried hot chili peppers, orange peels and the star anise. Allow the aromatics to infuse the oil for a minute and add your minced garlic and bell peppers. Quickly, pour in the stock mixture and allow it to come to a boil. Slowly add your cornstarch slurry until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
- Add the orange zest, beef and the blanched broccoli florets and toss well until everything is coated. Add more stock if the mixture is too thick and add more cornstarch slurry of the sauce is too thin. Plate and serve over rice!
George says
Bill,
I recently found a tangerine spread from the Damation valleys of Croatia at Cost Plus, not exactly cheap at $5-6 a jar but, damn, its outrageously good…here’s the link to the Amazon listing
https://www.amazon.com/Dalmatia-Tangerine-Spread-8-5-ounce/dp/B01MT617WL/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1522004250&sr=8-1&keywords=Tangerine+spread&dpID=51Ggo1L29pL&preST=_SY300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
I even saw it on Walmarts website as well…
Bill says
Hi George, that brand does looks good! Thanks for the tip and I will give it a try :)
brambo2000 says
Beautiful Dish. Thank You.
Bill says
Your’re welcome brambo2000 and hope you tried this one!
Lisa Kaufer-Smithey says
I just found your blog via one of my other FAVE blogs- recipe tin eats by Nagi! She had mentioned you and I trust her taste so I logged on and OH MY! I JUST made this Orange Beef tonight. I tripled the amount of beef and marinade, and doubled the sauce (beef stock, soy sauce etc.). It just so happened we had about 8 extra College ‘kids’ over tonight watching football, and they LOVED it, as well as myself and my husband. I did not double the dried peppers, as I have found in the past, this is NOT needed :) and the dish was PERFECTION! I added peanuts and carrots to the broccoli and peppers and served with rice.
The first dish I made from Woks of Life was your Orange Chicken (can you see a trend? orange?) and I was told it was one of the best dishes I have made until THIS Orange beef. Americans, well a lot, are used to orange colored, cloying, thick ‘orange’ sauce when we order these dishes from Asian restaurants, so when I made the two dishes and served them there was a comment, ‘It is not orange.” HA! This recipe as well as the chicken are so dimensional, even after frying the meats before the sauce was infused, I tasted each and could taste hints from the mild marinades. I feel that the dried peel, marmalade and zest gave just a hint of orange flavor NOT color to this dish. I have also made your milk bread and I swear I was a hero that night at dinner, and I am NOT a baker of bread. I have been asked to make cinnamon rolls with this milk bread recipe!
THANK you for all your recipes, hints and pictures. Just as Nagi has done, I can tell that Woks of Life will become a staple of recipes in our home!
Bill says
Hi Lisa, I can’t believe I missed all your praise and comments! If you happen by this recipe and comment again, and since you like orange, try our Orange pasta dish!
Kristin says
How long should the beef marinate for?
Bill says
Hi Kristin, about and hour should be fine!
Nadia says
This looks great! I don´t have access to orange marmalade. What would you recommend as a substitute?
Bill says
Hi Nadia, you can try a teaspoon or orange juice concentrate or tablespoon of orange juice instead of the marmalade.
Jerry Hegwood says
I cooked this back in September when I first joined the site and it was amazing! Tonight all I had was boneless, skinless chicken breast and you know what? It was just as amazing!
Bill says
Great to hear Jerry, using chicken sounds really good. Thanks for reporting back!