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Sapi Lada Hitam - Beef with Black Pepper Sauce
Extra special beef stir-fry! Tender beef slices with extra bold and yummy black pepper sauce. Recreate this favorite Chinese restaurant dish with my recipe.
Almost all Chinese restaurants in Indonesia serve sapi lada hitam, basically stir-fried beef with onion, bell pepper, and scallions in black pepper sauce. This is a delicious and very popular dish and is one of my favorite dishes from a good Chinese restaurant.
Luckily for me, this yummy beef stir-fry is actually a super easy dish to prepare at home. And if you follow my recipe, you will be able to create this restaurant quality dish in your own kitchen too.
What do I need to cook sapi lada hitam at home?
First, you will need some thinly sliced beef. Some beef cuts that are a good choice for stir-frying include flank, skirt, tri-tip loin, and sirloin.
Be sure to slice the beef against the grain. And since we want to go for thin slices, it may help if you partially freeze the beef first before slicing.
First, the beef slices will need to be marinated for 2 hours, and up to overnight. The marinade is a mixture of soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, and ground black pepper.
Next, we need some simple aromatics. For this dish, we will use garlic and ginger.
And for the vegetables, we’ll be using onion, red and green chilies (or bell peppers for milder dish), and scallions.
For the black pepper sauce (saus lada hitam), we will need oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce (Indonesian kecap manis), sugar, and salt.
And finally, to thicken the sauce, we will need either a tapioca starch slurry, which is basically tapioca starch mixed with water. If you don’t have tapioca starch in your pantry, you can also use cornstarch.
How do I cook beef in black pepper sauce?
1. Marinade beef.
Mix thinly sliced beef with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, and ground black pepper. Set aside to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, and up to one night. Once you are ready to cook, return the marinated beef to room temperature.
2. Fry aromatics.
Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add onion, and cook until slightly translucent.
3. Fry beef.
Add marinated beef into the pan, along with all the marinating sauce, and stir to mix. Cook until the beef is no longer pink.
4. Black pepper sauce.
Add red bell pepper, oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), sugar, and salt. Mix well, and cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust salt and sugar as needed.
5. Thicken the sauce.
Add cornstarch slurry (cornstarch + water) into the wok. Stir until the sauce is thick, then cook for another minute.
6. Garnish and serve.
Add scallions and stir, then transfer the finished dish to a serving platter. Serve with steamed white rice.
Sapi Lada Hitam - Beef with Black Pepper Sauce
Ingredients
- 500 gram beef (flank, skirt, tri-tip loin, or sirloin), thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2-3 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 inch ginger, thinly sliced
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup red and green chilies (or red and green bell peppers), seeded and chopped
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce (Indonesian: saus tiram)
- 1 tablespoon sweet soy sauce (Indonesian: kecap manis)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon tapioca starch (or cornstarch) + 3 tablespoon water, mixed well
- 3 scallions, cut into 1 inch sections
Instructions
- Marinade beef. Mix thinly sliced beef with soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, sesame oil, and ground black pepper. Set aside to marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, and up to one night. Once you are ready to cook, return the marinated beef to room temperature.
- Fry aromatics. Heat 2 tablespoon oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic and ginger until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add onion, and cook until slightly translucent.
- Fry beef. Add marinated beef into the pan, along with all the marinating sauce, and stir to mix. Cook until the beef is no longer pink.
- Black pepper sauce. Add the chilies (or bell peppers), oyster sauce, sweet soy sauce (kecap manis), sugar, and salt. Mix well, and cook for another 2 minutes. Adjust salt and sugar as needed.
- Thicken the sauce. Add tapioca starch/cornstarch slurry (tapioca starch/cornstarch + water) into the wok. Stir until the sauce is thick, then cook for another minute.
- Garnish and serve. Add scallions and stir, then transfer the finished dish to a serving platter. Serve with steamed white rice.
Comments
Hi Anita, I'm enjoying your recipes, especially your photos, they look sooo tempting.....I'd like to try this sapi lada hitam, but I can't find shaoxing wine anywhere here in Jakarta. Can I substitute with other thing? Thanks a lot
Hi Juna, for this dish, it is okay to skip Shaoxing wine if you cannot find it :)
Hi Juna, you can easily find ShaoXing Wine at the Supermarket. Or in the spice store at your local market place. Its commonly used in Jakarta.
What cut of beef would you recommend?
Flank, skirt, and tri tip loin. If you are willing to shell out for fancier cuts, then go with sirloin. Also, make sure to cut against the grain. I usually cut when the meat is still partially frozen so it is easier to get really thin slices.
This sapi lada hitam beef looks delicious! It's difficult to find good Asian restaurants here in Italy so I prefer to cook these dishes myself! On my to make list!
Comfy and spicy dish. Never tried, but looks so delicious I need to find all ingredients for that!
My mouth is watering, I wish I could have this right now especially since I'm always craving Chinese food. Looks absolute YUM and so easy to make! Thanks!
The sauce on this beef is fantastic. Also love the addition of fresh vegetables.
A fantastic, tasty beef stir fry recipe! Will make it again and again!
Love this recipe! It was so easy and so delicious! I'll definitely be making again!
Love that this dish has plenty of sauce and so much flavor. What a great recipe for any night of the week!
What a delicious comforting dish. A great alternative to ordering a takeaway.
I can only imagine how tender this beef is. Great recipe to save for a weekend dinner!
This beef looks amazing, love the sound of that sauce!
My family loves stir fry type recipes. I don't have many for beef for some reason. I'm going to add this to my menu for next week. Thank you for sharing.
Love the yummy sauces and flavors added to making this yummy dish. Looks soft, moist, juicy and flavorful. Cant wait to check this out.
Looks delicious! I could do with this and a bowl of rice right now!
Stir fries are the best and I love all of the seasonings in this recipe!
Thanks for the recipe. When you wrote “soy sauce” is that mean Kikoman soy sauce or dark soy sauce or light soy sauce? What are the difference between those 3 anyway?
Kikkoman soy sauce is a Japanese brand soy sauce and is best when preparing Japanese recipes that call for soy sauce, but it will work on Chinese recipes too that call for light soy sauce.
For Chinese recipes, it usually means light soy sauce when a recipe simply says soy sauce. A dark soy sauce is thicker compared to light soy sauce, with a darker color, but actually less salty compared to light soy sauce. The same amount of dark soy sauce will turn a dish darker faster compared to using the same amount of light soy sauce.
I finally got around to trying this with beef since I had made the tofu version from the Tahu Lada Hitam recipe (which was super delicious as I recall).
The sauce is really savory and peppery, so it's a win no matter what protein used. I love how the onions soaked up the flavors of the sauce better than restaurant versions I've had before.
I expected to have leftovers since it was a big dish, but it "disappeared" while I wasn't looking... Good thing for a sale on beef!
I want to add that I've since tried this with ground beef, and I was satisfied. I didn't marinate it as long, and the result was a bit less 'saucy' but the result was delicious as ever. Let it be known: Black pepper sauce is the boss!
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