Pepper Steak with Fried Rice and Eggrolls

I remember having pepper steak for as far back as I can remember. I wasn't too fond of the steak when I was younger but as I got older I grew to love this dish. In our house the pepper steak was served with steamed rice, chow mein noodles (shipped from Massachusetts) and the cutest little egg roll pillows. Those egg roll pillows were the best! They had just enough filling and because they were square instead of log shapped, they always came out perfectly browned and crispy.


Unfortunately those egg rolls are no longer sold, so I like to serve Chungs Veggie Egg Rolls. You can find those in your grocers freezer (Stater Bros is the cheapest! Albertsons is always $1.20 more).


As my mom will probably tell, I have altered the recipe just a little. And if you are looking for a recipe to sneak in extra veggies, look no further!


Here is the recipe for Pepper Steak:


1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves
4 green onions (use the white and green part)
1 large Red, Yellow, or Orange bellpepper cut into thin strips
2 nice Roma Tomatoes or 1 large garden tomato
2 cans of Reduced Sodium Beef Broth-Swansons
Paprika
1 Top Sirloin Steak (not fatty, but with nice marbling)
10 Snow Peas
Broccoli
2 tablespoos corn starch
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup cold water
White Rice or Brown Rice


Prep:


Clean and dry veggies.


Using KitchenAid scissors, cut up green onions. Then thinly slice bellpepper and cut up tomatoes into bite sized chunks. Break apart broccoli head and remove the string from the snow peas.


Make sure you keep the veggies seperate as they have different cooking times.


Peel and chop two garlic cloves. The easiest way to peel and chop garlic is to lay the garlic on it's side, lay your knife flat against the garlic clove, and using the outter side of your first,  smack your hand down onto the knife to smoosh the garlic glove. I was petrified the first time I tried this but have never cut or sliced open my hand.


On a seperate meat safe cutting board, remove the outter fat rim from the top sirloin and then cut 2 inch long strips. Then at an angle thinly slide the 2" stips. Wash your hands and sprinkle on the paprika. You will want to have a nice cover of paprika on the steak strips.


Thickening Mixture: Add the water and soy sauce into a bowl. Add in corn starch and mix well. Occassionally mix as you are cooking so the corn starch does not settle.


Putting it all together:


Preheat oven to 450 degrees for egg rolls. In a large pot, pour in two cans of beef broth and begin to cook over medium heat. In large skillet, melt down 1 tablespoon butter over medium heat. Add garlic and sautee for 1 minute, stiring frequently! Watch out because garlic can easily burn. Add in top sirloin strips and cook through, browing the meat. Don't over cook or you will end up with tough, chewy meat.


Once the meat is browned and cooked through, add it, the butter sauce, and garlic into the large pot with beef broth.


Simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered.


With 15 minutes left of cook time, place egg rolls into oven. Remember to turn them once for even browning. (these take 16 minutes to cook, but I have them get done before the beef so they can cool down!)


After the beef has simmered for 30 minutes, add in the green onions.


3 minutes later, add in the tomatoes.


After 3 minutes add in broccoli, snow peas, and bellpepper and cook 4-5 minutes. You want these veggies to still have some bite to them. Mushy snow peas and bellpepper isn't very appetizing!
Once the veggies are cooked, add in the thickening mixture. Bring to a boil, and let set for a minute before pouring into a heat resistant bowl.


And don't forget to cook your rice!