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Shapta
Serves 4 Prep 20 min Cook 15 min Total 35 min Type Meal Origin Tibetan

Shapta

The Tibetan stir-fry: thinly sliced beef flashed in a hot wok with onion, capsicum, soy and chilli. Served with rice or tucked into tingmo buns.

Serves 4 Prep 20 minutes Cook 15 minutes Units Rate

Overview

Thinly sliced beef marinates briefly in soy, garlic, ginger and a touch of cornflour for tenderness. A hot wok flashes the meat in batches, then onion, capsicum and chillies stir-fry until just beginning to char. Everything tosses back in with a small splash of soy and stock to glaze. Lots of fresh coriander and spring onion to finish.

Ingredients

Beef

  • 600 g lean beef (sirloin, rump or flank), sliced very thinly across the grain
  • 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine (or dry sherry)
  • 2 teaspoons cornflour
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper

Stir-fry

  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil (split)
  • 1 onion (large, sliced into thick wedges)
  • 2 capsicums (one red, one green; sliced)
  • 4 garlic cloves (chopped)
  • 4 cm fresh ginger (julienned)
  • 2 fresh green chillies (slit lengthways)
  • 1 tomato (cut into wedges)

Sauce

  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon soft brown sugar
  • 100 ml beef stock (or water)
  • 1 teaspoon cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water

To serve

  • 3 spring onions (sliced on the diagonal)
  • A small bunch of coriander (chopped)
  • Steamed Rice (or tingmo, Tibetan steamed buns)

Method

Stage 1 - Marinate the beef

  1. Place the beef strips in a bowl with the soy, Shaoxing, cornflour, sesame oil and black pepper. Toss to coat.
  2. Leave to marinate 15 minutes at room temperature while you prep the vegetables.

Stage 2 - Prep the sauce and vegetables

  1. Stir the sauce ingredients (light and dark soy, sugar and stock) together in a small bowl.
  2. Have the chopped vegetables, garlic, ginger and chillies ready by the stove; once you start cooking it moves fast.

Stage 3 - Sear the beef

  1. Heat a wok or large heavy frying pan over high heat until it smokes lightly.
  2. Add 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil; swirl to coat.
  3. Add half the beef in a single layer; sear 60 seconds without moving, then toss for 30 seconds. The meat should be browned but still slightly pink. Tip onto a plate.
  4. Repeat with a touch more oil and the remaining beef. Set aside.

Stage 4 - Stir-fry the vegetables

  1. Add the last tablespoon of oil to the wok.
  2. Tip in the onion wedges; stir-fry 1 minute until they start to char at the edges.
  3. Add the capsicums; stir-fry 2 minutes until just softened but still vivid.
  4. Add the garlic, ginger and chillies; toss 30 seconds.
  5. Add the tomato wedges; toss 1 minute, just to warm through.

Stage 5 - Bring it together

  1. Return the beef and any resting juices to the wok.
  2. Pour in the sauce mixture; toss to coat for 30 seconds.
  3. Stir the cornflour slurry and pour in; toss 30 seconds until the sauce thickens to a light glaze that coats everything.
  4. Taste; adjust salt or pepper.

Stage 6 - Serve

  1. Tip onto a warm serving platter.
  2. Scatter spring onions and coriander generously over the top.
  3. Serve immediately with steamed rice or tingmo.

Notes

  • Slice thin, slice across: Beef sliced thinly across the grain cooks in seconds and stays tender. Thick slices or with-the-grain cuts go chewy. A partial freeze of 30 minutes makes thin slicing easier.
  • Yak in Tibet, beef elsewhere: Yak is the traditional meat and unavailable in UK or Western shops. Lean beef sirloin or rump is the closest practical substitute; mutton (lamb leg) works for a stronger-flavoured version.
  • Hot wok is non-negotiable: Stir-fries fail when the pan isn't hot enough; the meat stews instead of searing. Get the wok smoking before adding oil.
  • Don't crowd the meat: Sear in 2 batches. Piled-in meat releases liquid and steams.

Variations

Mutton shapta: Use 600 g boneless lamb leg sliced thinly; otherwise identical. Vegetarian shapta: Replace the beef with 400 g firm tofu (pressed and cubed, fried in batches) plus 200 g mushrooms. Lighter, but the chilli and capsicum carry it.

Serving

Serve with: steamed jasmine rice, tingmo (Tibetan steamed buns) or warm flatbread, and a small dish of sepen chilli sauce on the side. Garnish with: extra coriander leaves.

Storage

  • Best eaten fresh; the vegetables go soft on standing.
  • Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; reheat in a hot wok briefly rather than the microwave.

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Two sensations at once: the bright, immediate burn of dried chilli (la) sitting under the slow numbing-electric prickle of Sichuan peppercorn (ma). That mala pair is the whole point. Beneath that, the broth is salty and fermented-funky from doubanjiang, the deep umami of broad-bean paste that's been aged for months in clay vessels. The hot oil pour at the table is theatre but it does real work: it blooms the dried chillies and Sichuan peppercorn powder right before you smell them, so the aroma arrives in a wave. Texturally: gloriously tender silk-thin beef slices (the cornflour-and-egg-white marinade is what keeps them that way), crisp-on-the-edge bok choy or bean sprouts wilting under the heat, oil swimming on top. Easier than its restaurant-banquet reputation suggests once you have doubanjiang and Sichuan peppercorns in the pantry; the technique is mostly "don't overcook the beef" and "pour the oil while it's smoking". Originates in 1930s Chongqing as a riverboat-worker's dish, water and chillies were cheap, lean cuts of beef tough, then spread through Sichuan in the 1980s as the wider mala movement caught hold.

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