Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-Fry is a simple dish, and is very filling with just the right amount of sliced beef in it. The contrast between the bright green of the sugar snap peas and the deep brown of the beef makes today’s dish so appetising.
I thought sugar snap peas were spring vegetables, so I was surprised to see plump sugar snap peas in the middle of winter at the vegetable shops. The articles on the web indicate that there are spring sugar snap peas and autumn sugar snap peas. I thought the autumn ones were grown in a glasshouse or something.
I like the flavour of peas in general, so I like sugar snap peas as well as snow peas, which look similar. Snow peas are used in quite a few recipes on my blog because they are perfect as a garnish or to add a bright colour to traditional Japanese dishes. Nishime, Teriyaki Chickin Don, and Gomoku-mame are examples.
But I have never posted a recipe using sugar snap peas, probably because such peas did not exist when I was young. I certainly never ate dishes containing sugar snap peas when I was living with my parents. Apparently in Japan, sugar snap peas only started appearing on the market in the 1970s. No wonder my mother never cooked them.
But today, I can show you a simple stir-fry dish using just sugar snap peas and sliced beef. It is so simple that it takes less than 15 minutes to cook.
What’s in my Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-fry
- Thinly sliced beef
- Sugar snap peas, strings on both sides of pods removed
- Julienned ginger
- Oil
Flavouring
- Cooking sake
- Mirin
- Sugar
- Soy sauce
Garnish (Optional)
I bought a sirloin steak and sliced it very thinly. Any other cuts suitable for stir-frying such as tenderloin, flank, and porterhouse, are fine. This stir-fry is not tenderised with marinade prior to cooking the beef, so you will need to slice the meat very thinly to say, 2mm/3⁄32″ thick. Thick slices will become a bit chewy when cooked.
You could use sukiyaki slices but not shabu-shabu slices since the latter is too thin and the meat tears easily while stir-frying.
Harishōga is optional, but the ginger adds some colour to the dish ands cleanses your palate.
How to Prepare Sugar Snap Peas
Like snow peas, sugar snap peas often come with a short stem attached to them. You need to remove the stem by breaking the end of the pod.
Sugar snap peas also come with tough strings on both sides of the pods. I’d say they are tougher than the strings on snow pea pods. By breaking the stem of the pod and pulling it gently along the pod, the string will come off it. But this removes the string on just one side of the pod.
To remove the strings on both sides of a pod, I start from the end of the pod (opposite to the stem end).
- The shape of the sugar snap pod is like a crescent – one side of the pod is straighter, and the other side is rounder. Starting from the end of the pod, break a tiny bit from the rounder side to the straighter side, without completely detaching the bit from the pod. Then, gently pull along the straighter side of the pod. A string should come off the pod (top right photo above).
- Rotate the pod and break the stem end of the pod towards the rounder side, without completely detaching the stem from the pod. Gently pull it along the rounder side of the pod. A string should come off the pod (bottom centre photo above).
- You might find that breaking the stem side with your fingers is difficult. This happens when the sugar snap peas are more matured. Use scissors to snip and continue pulling the string on the pod (bottom right photo above).
- When pulling the stem end in step 2, the string might not come off completely to the end of the pod. But that’s OK because it means that the string is not so tough. If it is tough to eat, it does not break when pulling it.
You can see how I prepare sugar snap peas in the video.
How to make Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-fry
This is a simple stir-fry dish. The only extra step is to cook the ingredients with a lid on for a short while so that the sugar snap peas cook faster. See the video.
- Sauté beef slices in a frying pan.
- Add ginger, sugar snap peas, and cooking sake to the pan and stir.
- Add the remaining Flavouring ingredients and mix.
- Put a lid on and cook at low heat for a couple of minutes, then cook further without the lid to reduce the liquid.
Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-fry is a great dish to make when you don’t have much time to cook. It goes so well with rice. You can eat this the next day and it’s still tasty, but unfortunately the sugar snap peas lose the bright green colour.
Yumiko
Watch How To Make It
Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-fry is a simple dish and is very filling with plenty of sliced beef in it. The contrast between the bright green of the sugar snap peas and the deep brown of the beef makes today’s dish so appetising. See the video.
Don't forget to see the section 'MEAL IDEAS' below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 150g/5.34oz beef thinly sliced into bite-size pieces (note 1)
- 200g/7.1oz sugar snap peas destringed (note 2)
- 1 tbsp ginger julienned
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1½ tbsp cooking sake
- 1½ tbsp Mirin
- ½ tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
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Put oil in a frying pan and heat over medium heat.
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Add beef to the pan and sauté, untangling the beef slices.
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When the beef slices change to brown in colour, add ginger, sugar snap peas, and cooking sake to the pan and stir.
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When it starts boiling, add the remaining Flavouring ingredients, mix and place a lid on.
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Reduce the heat to low and cook for 2-3 minutes (note 3).
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Remove the lid, turn the heat up to high. Continue to cook, stirring, until the liquid reduces to a very small amount.
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Remove from the heat and transfer to a serving plate. Place harishōga on top.
1. Tenderloin, flank, sirloin/porterhouse, or any other cut of steak suitable for stir-frying is fine. The thickness of the slice should be about 2mm/3⁄32".
You can use sliced beef for Sukiyaki instead of slicing a block of meat yourself. Sukiyaki beef slices should be 2mm thick. The slices are usually very large, so you need to cut them into smaller sizes.
Do not use beef slices for Shabu-shabu because they are much thinner than the sukiyaki slices and break easily while stir-frying.
2. Sugar snap peas that are picked early are tender but matured sugar snap peas come with a stringy pod. You need to remove them before cooking. Please see the section HOW TO PREPARE SUGAR SNAP PEAS in my post for how to remove strings on pods. The video also shows you how to do it.
3. Depending on the tenderness of the fresh sugar snap peas, you might need less or more time to cook the peas. The idea is to cook them leaving a bit of crunchiness. You may want to check them after a minute or so into cooking them with a lid on.
The degree of crunchiness is up to you, depending on your liking.
4. Nutrition per serving.
serving: 219g calories: 371kcal fat: 24g (37%) saturated fat: 7.2g (36%) trans fat: 0.1g polyunsaturated fat: 2g monounsaturated fat: 12g cholesterol: 53mg (18%) sodium: 481mg (20%) potassium: 485mg (14%) carbohydrates: 18g (6%) dietary fibre: 2.7g (11%) sugar: 12g protein: 17g vitamin a: 22% vitamin c: 100% calcium: 4% iron: 22%
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
Although today’s main dish Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-fry contains only 75g/2.6oz of sliced beef per serving, it is a filling dish. So, I decided to pick a tofu dish to supplement more protein without making the overall meal too heavy.
To give a completely different flavour to the meal, I picked Kimchi for Side dish 2, but you can choose other pickled dish if you are not good with chilli.
- Main: Beef and Sugar Snap Stir-fry – today’s recipe.
- Side dish 1: Chilled Tofu (Hiyayakko) 4 Ways – pick any toppings of your choice.
- Side dish 2: Simple Kimchi Recipe – or another pickled dish.
- Soup: Tofu and Wakame Miso Soup – or any other ingredients that you like.
- Rice: Cooked Rice.
Delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hi Mari, thank you!