Slice beef into 4 mm thick pieces.

Marinade the beef with 1 tbsp plus 1 tsp of soy sauce, 1 tbsp of Chinese cooking wine, 1/4 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of black pepper

Coat the beef with 1 egg white and 2 tbsp of cornstarch. Massage the beef until it feels like velveteen texture. It should be very creamy and slippery. Set that aside for 20 minutes. And we will prepare some other ingredients.

I used pickled face heaven chilies. We call it Chao tian jiao [朝天椒]. They are super hot. You better be careful when using it. If you can find this specific type chili, you can use fresh hot chilies, or the chili sauce you like. Use scissors to cut the chili open. In this way, you release part of the spicy element and the chili will still be the whole shape so no one will eat one by accident.

Besides that, have some red dried chilies (optional), 2 tsp of cumin powder, few cloves of minced garlic and some thin slices of onion. That is it. Let’s start cooking.

Heat it up the pan and the oil to super hot then add in the beef piece by piece. The heat is important. If your heat is not high enough, the beef will overcook before the outside get golden brown. If the pan is not big enough, you can fry the beef in batches. Here is a little trick. I always put in the beef in a certain order so I will remember which piece gets cooked first and when I flip them over I will follow the same order. Wait for a minute or Take a little peek to see the color. If it is beautifully brown then flip all the beef over and fry the other side. When both sides are looking good, take it out. Set that aside. We can cook the rest of the ingredients.

I washed this pan because after frying the beef, it has some small particles left in there. If you don’t wash it, it will ruin the flavor and the presentation.

Add a little more oil to the pan and heat it up. Add the onion, the garlic, the dried red chili and the pickled face heaven chili. Stir them until the onion becomes transparent. Add the beef back to the pan. Give it a few toss. Dump in all the cumin powder. Toss it again. Make sure everything is evenly mixed. Taste it a little bit and see if it needs more salt. My does so I add a little more. Mix it evenly and you are done.

Dust more cumin powder on the top and I also like to sprinkle some red chili flake. This is optional. I think it makes the dish looks a little prettier. You can serve this with white rice.