Cantonese Beef Stew is a dish that always popped in and out of my childhood. Sometimes it would be bubbling away in a clay pot at a Chinatown restaurant, and sometimes it was scooped out of a big pot at home. The tender, gelatinous pieces of beef and melt-in-your-mouth chunks of radish in a thin gravy, served over rice? Total comfort food. This Instant Pot Braised Beef with Radish is my shortcut pressure cooker version, with a few tweaks and improvements from the original Cantonese braised beef recipe we posted back in the early days of the blog.
My dad’s family is Cantonese, and my mom’s side of the family is from Shanghai. While my sister and I grew up eating dishes from both cuisines, my mom once asked us…if we had to choose, which would we rather have? A table filled with Shanghainese classics like braised pork belly, soup dumplings (xiao long bao), drunken chicken, and scallion oil noodles? Or a table of Cantonese classics like Salt and Pepper Pork Chops, steamed whole fish, and this braised beef with radish?
While I have a special place in my heart reserved for xiao long bao, and my sister is obsessed with scallion oil noodles, we both sheepishly turned to each other and said, back-against-the-wall, we’d choose the Cantonese table.
There’s just something particularly homey and comforting about Cantonese food, especially saucy things over rice, like this Instant Pot Braised Beef with Radish. There’s just nothing better.
Which is why, now that I’m officially an Instant Pot convert, I decided to create a pressure cooker Cantonese braised beef with radish recipe. Like my Instant Pot Curry Beef recipe, this recipe uses a cut of beef called rough flank (niu nan in Mandarin, or ngau lam in Cantonese).
It’s a pretty tough cut of meat, full of tendony, sinewy, and gristly bits that when cooked for hours, all work together to produce a delicious texture. We cut them into pretty big, 2 1/2 inch chunks, as you can see below, because they’ll shrink when cooked.
The Instant Pot helps tenderize that tough cut of meat in much less time, which is key when you’re looking for a comfort food dinner and may not have 4-6 hours to make it.
Cantonese Instant Pot Braised Beef with Radish: The Recipe
Bring a pot or large wok of water to a boil. Blanch the beef chunks to remove any impurities (see all that foam and scum in the photo below? That’s the stuff you don’t want in your stew!)
Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef to a colander, and rinse. Set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in your Instant Pot on the saute setting. Add the fresh ginger slices, and cook for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant and slightly crisped at the edges.
Add the blanched beef, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, 3 star anise, 5 cloves, 3 bay leaves, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Seal the Instant Pot, make sure the valve is set to “sealing,” and turn on the meat/stew for 35 minutes. The float valve on the top of the Instant Pot will raise when under pressure.
Once finished, allow the Instant Pot to release pressure naturally. Once the Instant Pot is safe to open (pressure is fully released when the float valve has dropped back into the lid), open it up. Here’s what the stew will look like at this stage:
Next, add the radish chunks.
Stir to combine with the beef.
Replace the lid, seal the Instant Pot, move the valve back to the sealing position, and put it back on manual high pressure for 10 minutes. Once done, allow the pressure to release again using Quick Pressure Release this time (be careful moving the valve, as the steam released will be very hot. Use an oven mitt!).
Open the pot when safe. Turn on the saute setting and bring the stew to a simmer. Mix together chicken stock or water and cornstarch into a slurry and stir into the stew to thicken. Simmer for 2 minutes, season with salt to taste, and stir in the scallions.
Serve your Instant Pot braised beef with rice!
Cantonese Instant Pot Braised Beef with Radish
Ingredients
- 3 to 3 ½ lbs beef rough flank (1.5 kg, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (30 ml)
- 7 slices ginger
- 1 cup Shaoxing wine (240 ml)
- 3 tablespoons light soy sauce (45 ml)
- 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce (15 ml)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (15 ml)
- 3 pieces star anise
- 5 cloves
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon sugar (12g)
- 2 pounds daikon radish (1 kg, peeled and cut into 1-½ inch pieces)
- ¼ cup chicken stock or water (mixed with 2 teaspoons cornstarch)
- Salt (to taste)
- 2 scallions (cut on a diagonal into 1-inch pieces)
Instructions
- Bring a pot or large wok of water to a boil. Blanch the beef chunks to remove any impurities. Use a slotted spoon to remove the beef to a colander, and rinse. Set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in your Instant Pot on the saute setting. Add the ginger slices, and cook for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant and slightly crisped at the edges.
- Add the blanched beef, Shaoxing wine, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, oyster sauce, 3 star anise, 5 cloves, 3 bay leaves, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Seal the Instant Pot, make sure the valve is set to “sealing,” and turn on the meat/stew for 35 minutes. The float valve on the top of the Instant Pot will raise when under pressure.
- Once finished, allow the Instant Pot to release pressure naturally. Once the Instant Pot is safe to open (pressure is fully released when the float valve has dropped back into the lid), open it and add the radish chunks. Stir to combine with the beef.
- Replace the lid, seal the Instant Pot, move the valve back to the sealing position, and put it back on manual high pressure for 10 minutes. Once done, allow the pressure to release again using Quick Pressure Release this time (be careful moving the valve, as the steam released will be very hot. Use an oven mitt!).
- Open the pot when safe. Turn on the Saute setting and bring the stew to a simmer. Mix together chicken stock or water and cornstarch into a slurry and stir into the stew to thicken. Simmer for 2 minutes, season with salt to taste, and stir in the scallions.
- Serve with rice!
Nutrition
Dc says
Can I use beef chuck instead and to what time should I adjust the instant pot cooking time? Any other considerations I should take into account if using beef chuck?
Sarah says
Yes you can use beef chuck. I would reduce the cooking time to 25 minutes.
Ken says
I’ve modified the recipe adding in oxtail w the rough flank, and also bulking w a quart of baby carrots and quart of fingerling potatoes and doubling up the chicken sauce stock and starch at the end .
Tastee goodness !!!
More instant pot recipes please!!!
Sarah says
We’ll definitely add more instant pot recipes in the future, Ken! Glad you enjoyed this one!
Imran Ismail says
I noticed that some chinese recipe add tendons to this dish, but the tendons are cooked all the way till soft and melting the stock is discarded. They add the precooked tendons to the beef and maybe braise another 30 min, what is the reason behind precooking the tendons first. Then adding it, rather them blanching it together with beef and cook it together.
Sarah says
Hi Imran, I’m not actually sure. I haven’t seen that method before!
Imran Ismail says
Hey Sarah thanks for the reply, check out these site below. As you can see in these recipe the tendon is cooked all the way even some recipe like for 12 hours in one of these recipe. The water is then discarded and the tendons are added to the beef stew to absorb the flavor. I have tried this way its very interesting flavors my brothers loved it, this brisket you have above with the tendon attached I very much dislike it. I has a funny smell and the texture while swallowing is very gross in the mouth and quite rubbery. I have cleaned the brisket completely from any sinew, cartilage, tendons it came out better.
https://www.pressurecookrecipes.com/instant-pot-chinese-beef-stew/
https://omnivorescookbook.com/chinese-beef-stew/
https://omnivorescookbook.com/recipes/moms-best-beef-stew-with-tendon
https://www.justonecookbook.com/japanese-beef-tendon-stew//
Sarah says
Hi Imran, thanks for sharing. I understand that you don’t like the rough flank cut of meat. Many Chinese love it! That said, you should feel free to make the dish however you prefer.
Irene says
Tendon is cooked separating because it takes about 2 to 3 times longer to get tendon soft vs rough flank or any other meat.
Imran says
Is that skin or tendons
Bill says
Hi Imran, that is muscle tissue from the rough flank area. Rough flank is mostly found in butcher counters in Chinese grocery stores. It is very tough, which is why you need an instant pot, pressure cooker, or a very long cooking time. The Chinese love the texture of this cut of meat when it’s cooked right. It’s also historically been a more affordable cut of meat! ;-)
Meri says
I love this dish. I think I sometimes see beef tendons added to it in restaurants. Can I add tendons to this? And if so, at what stage do I add it into the instant pot ?
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!
Sarah says
Yes you could add tendons! I would add them in along with the meat.
Patrick says
I’m going to try this recipe over the weekend. I will be tweaking this a bit and making it 4 lbs of meat(cause I eat a lot lol) and possibly throwing in some carrots and celery for different textures.
Curious, 1 Cup of ShaoXing and 1/4 cup chicken stock should be enough to cook this right? If anything since I’m adding a bit more ingredients should I put in more Shaoxing or stock?
Normally whenever I make my instant pot, I try to have enough stock to cover the the ingredients.
Sarah says
Hi Patrick, I find that cooking in an Instant Pot requires very little liquid, and that cooking with too much liquid can make the resulting dish watery. So I’d say that the amount of liquid called for in the recipe should still be enough for 4 pounds of meat.
Mk says
This as quick and easy to make! However I thought it lacked just a smidge of flavor. I’m not sure what it is but it didn’t have that deep flavor from the cloves or anise? I’m not sure what it is….suggestions? Thank you!
Sarah says
Hey MK, try adding a tablespoon or two of oyster sauce and a bit more salt! I think that should amp up the flavor to your preference. :)
jdub says
While I’m not yet an instant pot convert, I can recommend using “Chu Hou Paste” to amp up the flavor. If you’ve got an Asian grocery store, Lee Kum Kee offer it in a jar. When doing this dish the traditional way I *love* extra sauce for my rice. Instead of watering down the goodness with just water, I add some chu hou paste, corn starch, and water to stretch it out a bit.
Sarah says
An interesting addition, Jason! Will have to give it a try––we have some chee hou sauce (aka chu hou paste) in our fridge. :)
Patrick says
Do you add the Chu Hou in addition ? or do you sub out the oyster sauce/salt
Sherrie Yokoro says
Hello,
Thank you for sharing this recipe with me. I don’t live near a Chinese market or even close to chinatown so what kind of meat can I substitute for the rough flank? This is one of my favorite my Mom used to make for me when I was little.
Thank you,
Sarah says
Hi Sherrie, you can sub in boneless beef chuck!
Lisa says
I made this with chuck roast and it was on the dry side, but I sort of expected that. The flavor was fantastic though! I want to repeat this with beef tendon and make a noodle soup out of it. How long do you think it would take to cook the tendon in the Instant Pot? Cooking on the stovetop takes hours!
Sarah says
Hey Lisa, for tendon, I might try 45 minutes on high pressure. As for the dryness––definitely inspect your chuck roast and try going for a piece that has fat on it!