Sha cha beef

Sha cha beef (also called sa cha beef, cha beef, or cha beefsteak) is the name of a Chinese dish featuring shacha sauce and tenderized beef strips. The Americanized dish is usually served over a bed of white rice with fresh scallions and cilantro (coriander). This dish is native to the Gansu province of China.

Sha cha beef is a traditional dish dating back thousands of years. This dish is unusual in that it is one of the few Chinese-American dishes to maintain the principle of fan-ts'ai or the division between fan, grains and other starch foods, and ts'ai, vegetable and meat dishes. To prepare a balanced meal, it must have an appropriate amount of both fan and ts'ai, and ingredients are readied along both tracks.