Stir-fried beef with pickled peppers is a dish you might see at a very legit Hunan restaurant.We had one such restaurant, who pickled their own peppers for their version of the dish.  We wondered if we could recreate it…with humble jarred pepperoncinis that you can find in any grocery store.Well folks, we did just that.

And it’s pretty great.A Hunan Beef Stir-Fry We absolutely love Hunan cooking.Until recently, we had an absolute gem of a Hunan restaurant near us (it was a shock to the family system when we all found out this restaurant had closed) that introduced us to the glories of unique chili/pickle combinations.  That restaurant was the starting point for such recipes as Steamed Tilapia with Duo Jiao Salted Chilies, Fluffy Chinese Scrambled Eggs with Salted Chilies, and Pickled Long Beans with Ground Pork.  Hunan cuisine is characterized by bold, spicy flavors, with liberal use of chilies, garlic, ginger, as well as pickled, preserved or fermented ingredients like fermented black beans, preserved or smoked meats, and yes, pickled chilies.  This recipe has many of those characteristics, with aromatic ginger, garlic, spicy fresh Thai bird’s eye chilies for a pure heat, and pickled peppers for a mellower tang to make beef that much tastier.

This is definitely a dish you can crush a bowl of rice (or quinoa rice) with!  When life gives you pickled pepperoncini peppers…  This recipe began as an attempt to make a Hunan-style beef stir

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