One of my favorite things about cooking Asian-inspired food is a lot of the dishes I enjoy are gluten free and dairy free. Especially when you use liquid aminos in place of soy sauce (most grocery store soy sauce contains wheat). You can serve it to your friends and family, and they’ll never realize they’re eating a gluten free/dairy free meal. They’ll just ask you for the recipe while piling their plates high — the ultimate compliment for any cook. 🙂
Crispy sesame beef is SO GOOD. I mean, is there anything better than crunching into a crisp exterior only to reveal tender, melt-in-your mouth beef inside? Not to mention, I love the way the meat sizzles in the skillet as it’s cooking to perfection, filling the kitchen with its yumminess.
Since I’ve started velveting the meat, I’ve never looked back. It’s such a simple process and the result is well worth the ten minutes it takes to let it sit in its tenderizing goodness. (Velveting is basically just letting the thinly sliced meat marinate in wine, liquid amino, and cornstarch. The recipe is included below.)
Trust me. You’ll be glad you tried it when you steal a few pieces of beef while the noodles or rice is cooking.
For my version of crispy sesame beef I love serving it over rice pad thai noodles. I set a pot of water to boil for the noodles and get to work slicing my steak, then prep the sesame sauce. The crispness of the meat combined with the soft noodles adds a fantastic textural element that I can’t get enough of. You can serve yours over white or fried rice, or even on fajita wraps to jazz up your beef fajitas, or over nachos.
There’s really no wrong way to eat or serve this crispy treat, so the only limit is your imagination! Make sure you have green onions on hand and some toasted sesame seeds. No matter which way you decide to serve it, you’ll want the garnish to finish it off nicely.
Here’s what you’ll need to make crispy sesame beef tonight:
Ingredients
For the meat:
- 1.5 lbs. steak (I used NY Strip)
- 1 tablespoon liquid aminos or soy sauce (I use Bragg’s brand because it’s wheat-free)
- 1 tablespoon white wine
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 tablespoons sesame oil
For the Sesame Sauce:
- 2 TBSP liquid aminos (or soy sauce if you're not gluten free)
- 1 TBSP water
- 1.5 TBSP white vinegar (or rice wine vinegar)
- 1/2 TBSP sesame oil
- 1.5 TBSP packed brown sugar
- 1 TBSP ground ginger
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 TBSP honey
- 1 TBSP sriracha (or to taste)
For the noodles:
- 1 Package of rice noodles (I used pad thai noodle for this recipe)
- Water and a pot to boil them in
- Salt
For the Garnish:
- green onions and toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
- Slice meat while mostly frozen into 1/4 inch strips and place in a large bowl.
- Add the liquid aminos, white wine, and cornstarch and mix until meat is covered.
- Place sesame oil in a large skillet and set on medium heat.
- Combine all ingredients for sesame sauce together in a small bowl, set aside.
- Make your rice or rice noodles.
- Sauté the meat in small batches, just covering the bottom of the skillet, and cook for 1-2 minutes per side. Remove to a paper towel lined plate.
- Once your noodles are ready, toss them in the skillet the meat cooked in and add the meat and sauce. Cook for an additional minute until everything is warm.
- Garnish with green onion and toasted sesame seeds.
(email subscribers click through to the blog for the recipe)