Posted on 24th Sep 2026

Fuchsia Dunlop's Easy Yunnan Beef Stir Fry

Discover the incredible flavours of Yunnan cuisine with acclaimed food writer Fuchsia Dunlop as she shares a quick and delicious beef stir fry from her latest cookbook, Five Tastes.

Cuisine

Chinese

Time

20 mins

Servings

people

Ingredients

A bunch of fresh mint (about 50g)

250g beef bavette or rump steak (or other lean beef )

1 tbsp light soy sauce

½ tsp dark soy sauce

¼ tsp salt

1 tsp potato starch

3 tbsp cooking oil

5 dried chillies, halved, seeds discarded

2 red chillies, deseeded and thinly sliced

3 garlic cloves, sliced

An equivalent amount of ginger, peeled and sliced

Method

PREPARATION

Remove any thicker stems from the mint, leaving tender sprigs and leaves (you want to be left with a couple of big handfuls, 20–25g). Set aside.

Cut the beef across the grain into thin slices. Place the slices in a bowl with both soy sauces, the salt, potato starch and 1 teaspoon of water, and mix well.

COOKING

Swirl the oil round a seasoned wok over high heat. Add the dried chillies and sizzle for a few seconds until you can smell them, then quickly add the fresh chillies, garlic and ginger and stir-fry until they smell delicious.

Tip in the beef and stir-fry until just cooked. Finally, add the mint and stir-fry briefly until wilted. Serve.

Order Fuchsia Dunlop's new book, 'Five Tastes' here: https://linktr.ee/fuchsiadunlop