I’ve never cooked with coconut oil before, so I figured it’s time to try it and since it’s supposed to be good for you lets go. Ok I have to be honest…..It left a faint coconut taste in the dish which is ok if you want that flavor in the dish you’re making. It also smelled up my house like a coconut oil suntan lotion factory for 2 days. My hair smelled like it and everything. It’s like when you go to a Mexican restaurant and order the sizzling fajitas and you walk out smelling like them. I think I’ll give the beauty treatment recipes a go rather than heating it up and frying with it.
The recipe is great and I’m totally stealing the idea of freezing the meat ahead of time to keep it crispy. However I won’t use the coconut oil.
Crispy Orange Beef
(Adapted from Simply Gourmet)
2 pounds of steak: sirloin, stir fry steak or skirt steak (what you see in the pictures)
2 tablespoons coconut aminos or soy sauce or gluten free soy sauce
1/3 cup arrowroot starch or corn starch
1 cup of oil, for frying (I used coconut oil)
Crispy Orange Beef Sauce, recipe below
Cut meat into bite size pieces. I tried to have my pieces about 1inch by 1.5 inches.
Add coconut aminos or soy sauce to the meat pieces and toss. Add the starch and coat each piece of meat.
Using a wire rack inside a cookie tray, spread the meat pieces out in a single layer. Freeze for 45 minutes. This helps to dry the meat out and make it crispy when fried.
10 minutes before meat is done in the freezer, add oil to large cast iron pan or dutch oven. Bring oil to 375 degrees F.
Line a bowl with a paper towel and start frying meat. Fry until golden brown on each side (about 3 minutes) You can add more oil if you want to coat the pieces and “fry”. I did more of a pan fry on mine and it worked out great. Remove pieces to paper towel and continue frying until all the meat is prepared.
To prepare sauce-see below. Toss sauce with crispy beef pieces, add garnish and serve with rice.
Crispy Orange Beef Sauce
2 tablespoons arrowroot or cornstarch
1/3 cup fresh orange juice
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced
1/4 cup of orange rind, sliced very thin
1/4 cup green onion, chopped for garnish
To serve sauce on the side: Combine sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan, whisk and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened (about 3 minutes).
To serve sauce over beef: Add ingredients to a small bowl and whisk. When all of the meat has been fried, remove oil and toss sauce into frying pan. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat for 3 minutes. Add beef pieces and stir to coat each piece with sauce.
