Beef stir-fry with youtiao

Have you ever heard of beef stir-fry with youtiao? Yeah me neither. And turns out, neither has anyone else I know lol. But it has youtiao, so it's gotta be good, right? That's the reason why I bookmarked this recipe the moment I read about it.

The only thing is, I almost never buy youtiao (they usually run out of them at the Chinese grocery stores by the time I go), and I also almost never buy flank steak or any other steak cuts for that matter LOL. So it was a long time before I got around to making this. I think the activation energy finally came after I returned home in December and wanted to introduce my family to more Chinese dishes—I made a concerted effort to remember to buy both key ingredients so that I could make all the carb-y, beef-y Chinese foods for them (congee, fan tuan, beef ho fun, etc. etc.) :D

The dish turned out a lot sweeter than I expected, actually. Then again, I didn't really know what to expect, other than it would definitely be tasty because it had youtiao in it! I think if I were to make it again, I would dial down the sugar, maybe increase the black vinegar, and definitely use beef stock to make it more saucy+savoury. Guess this gives me a reason to buy youtiao and beef more often hehe :)

(original recipe from the Woks of Life)