Black Pepper Beef with Green Beans recipe

I just made this and it was DELISH! A Cantonese favorite, not so much hot and spicy as deeply flavorful, tender and easy. I have used peas, sugar snap and snow peas as substitutes for the green beans.
Source: Helen Chen's Easy Chinese Stir-fries.

3/4-1 lb. flank steak, trimmed
1 lb. green beans, ends snapped off and strings removed
2 T dark soy sauce or soy sauce
1 T cornstarch
1 T Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
1 tsp sugar
2 tsps coarsely ground black pepper
3 T canola oil
1/4 cup water
2 slices unpeeled fresh ginger
1 medium onion, sliced

1. Snap green beans into halves or thirds
2. Slice steak with the grain into 2-inch-wide strips. Then slice the strips across the grain into 1/8-inch-thick slices
3. Whisk together soy sauce, cornstarch, wine, sugar and black pepper in medium bowl. Add beef and mix well.
4. Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in stir-fry pan over high heat until oil is hot but not smoking. Test by dipping a spatula in beef mixture and then into the oil; it should sizzle. Add green beans and stir 1 minute. Add water and reduce heat to medium. Cover and cook until tender-crisp, 6-9 min. Transfer beans and liquid to shallow dish. (when using peas, I skipped this step and simply microwaved them)
5. Add remaining oil to pan and increase heat to high. Add ginger and stir until oil is hot and ginger sizzles. Add onion and stir constantly 1 minute. Stir beef mixture and add to pan. Cook, stirring until beef is not longer pink, about 2 minutes.
6. Return beans and liquid to pan and stir until mixed well and heated thoroughly, about 30 seconds. Discard ginger. Serves 4.

Add a splash of a certain sauce from a certain company that contains Ginger and Wasabi, or Thai peanut sauce for some extra kick.

per serving: 300 calories, 17 g fat, 35 mg chol., 23 g protein, 14g carbs, 5g fiber, 500 mg sodium

Enjoy!