Beef with broccoli
31 Dec
My Chinese culinary skills are almost non-existent so I thought this would be a good way to practice. I was happy to learn that I could eat this dish and not pass out from the sodium/msg overload.
Let me pause here for a second and say thanks to everyone who has been so encouraging throughout my blogging journey so far! As always, feel free to leave suggestions.
One thing to note – your email addresses that you enter when commenting are not public. And I won’t send you spam; unless it’s the edible kind. :)
2009 is going to be a great year! Happy early new year!
Adapted from Simply Recipes
Ingredients:
3/4 pound of flank, sliced thinly across the grain (which I clearly did not do)
3/4 pound of broccoli florets
1/4 cup of chicken broth
2 cloves of garlic minced
2 tablespoons of oyster sauce (I used fish sauce)
2 teaspoons of rice wine
1.5 teaspoons of cornstarch (1teaspoon dissolved, .1/2 undissolved)
2 teaspoons of soy sauce
1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
Procedure:
1. Marinate the beef: Stir together soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of rice wine, dissolved cornstarch and black pepper in a medium bowl. Add the beef slices and stir until coated. Let stand for at least 10 minutes.
2. Prepare the sauce: Stir together the sauce ingredients (oyster or fish sauce, rice wine, chicken stock and soy sauce) in a small bowl.
3. Blanch the broccoli: Cook the broccoli in a small pot of boiling, salted water until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
4. Heat a large frying pan (or wok) over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and instantly evaporates upon contact. Add the cooking oil and swirl to coat.
5. Add the beef and immediately spread the beef out all over the surface of the wok or pan in a single layer (preferably not touching).
6. Let the beef fry undisturbed for 1 minute. (Cooking times will vary depending on the thickness of the beef. Mine took about 3 minutes on each side.) Flip the beef slices over, add the garlic to the pan and fry for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute until no longer pink.
7. Pour in the sauce, and bring to a boil. Add broccoli.
8. Pour in the dissolved cornstarch and cook, stirring, until the sauce boils and thickens, 30 seconds. Make sure not to overcook the broccoli.
