Basic Beef Broccoli

Broccoli. Ugh, right? I remember being forced to eat this as a child, and I dreaded every moment. I mean, whoever decided that this ugly little thing was edible probably did so as a practical joke. I mean, evil cartoon characters have been created in the image and likeness of this vegetable. Yep, I remember seeing a battalion of walking broccolis invading Townsville and hypnotizing all the adults in the neighborhood.

Uhhh. I probably shouldn't have disclosed that I used to watch Powerpuff Girls. Too late for that.

So moving on, it wasn't until later in life that I discovered that broccolis make great buddies with sliced beef. I started enjoying it and have gone as far as ordering Beef Broccoli in restaurants on occasion. So let's cook that today.

Here's what you need:

1/4 kg beef sirloin, sliced thinly
broccoli florets
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 cloves garlic, very finely minced 
1 teaspoon cornstarch, dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

For the marinade
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (I just used red wine)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
(You may instead simply use salt and pepper to season the beef)

For the sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 teaspoon Chinese rice wine (I just used red wine)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 cup chicken or beef broth




And here's what you need to do:

1. Marinate the beef: Put together the marinade ingredients in a medium bowl. Add the beef slices and stir until coated. Let stand for 10-30 minutes.
2. Prepare the sauce: Stir together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
3. Blanch the broccoli: Boil water and add a bit of salt. Cook your broccoli for about 2-3 minutes until tender-crisp. Drain thoroughly. Set aside.
4. Heat a pan and add cooking oil. Sear the beef, immediately spreading it out all over the surface in a single layer. Let the beef fry undisturbed for 1 minute. Flip.
5. Add the garlic to the pan and fry for an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute. This is a trick I learned if you don't want your garlic to be burnt.
6. Pour in the sauce and stir.
7. Add the blanched broccoli and bring to a boil. 
8. Pour in the dissolved cornstarch until desired consistency is reached.
9. Season with salt and pepper as needed.

Very easy to do, right?

One time, I didn't realize that I no longer had broccoli in my fridge. Apparently, somebody used it without telling me. Tsk. I had all the other ingredients prepared, so I decided to just use young corn instead of broccoli. Turned out pretty ok.