Vietnamese Stir-fried Beef with Tonkin Flowers

Stir-fried beef with Tonkin flowers is a distinctive and savory dish in Vietnamese cuisine. This quick and easy dish features tender beef slices tossed with the unique edible flowers of Indo-China.

If you have traveled to Vietnam, it’s likely you have come across this dish on the menu of quite a few restaurants. The dish is called “bò xào hoa thiên lý” in Vietnamese, with “hoa thiên lý” being the Vietnamese name of Tonkin flowers. 

• 10 oz beef, thinly sliced against the grain
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic, divided
• 1/4 plus 1/8 teaspoon salt, divided
• 1/8 teaspoon black peper (plus more for serving)
• 3/4 teaspoon cornstatch
• 2 teaspoons water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cooking oil (plus more for stir-frying)
• 8 oz Tonkin flowers
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon fish sauce (or soy sauce)