Easy Chinese poached beef and bean sprouts - recipe

Many shops that specialise in congee - Chinese rice porridge - have a short menu of snacks, in case customers want something more substantial. These include fried wonton, fried fish balls with salted clam sauce, fried noodles with soy sauce, and a variety of poached fish, meats and offal. The poached dishes sound dull compared with the fried ones, but they are subtly delicious.

This dish takes only about half an hour to cook, and most of that time is spent preparing the shallots and garlic oil – the beef and bean sprouts take less than five minutes to poach. Not all congee shops top their poached beef with fried garlic and shallots, but those that do make batches for use within a day or two. At home, it is best to make it fresh.

Buy thinly sliced beef from the supermarket, usually labelled for sukiyaki or hotpot.

Aged soy sauce has a rich, not too salty flavour. I buy a brand called Yuan’s, which they label "royal soy sauce". It is expensive but a bottle lasts a long time, because the soy sauce is used in small amounts.

As well as congee, this dish is delicious with steamed rice, or boiled noodles.

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