Restaurant Quality Beef and Broccoli with an exact replica of the silky smooth Chinese Brown sauce.

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Healthier than a restaurant yet possessing the same taste and flavor profiles.  When variety is the spice of life, add some homemade Chinese food to the family menu.

 

 

PREP TIME

10 mins

COOK TIME

10 mins

TOTAL TIME

20 mins

 

Faster than take out, healthier and tastier. This is a restaurant recipe! This recipe makes a saucy stir fry because that's how I like it. I also made the sauce very smooth rather than having bits of garlic and ginger in it - again, this is simply my personal preference. 

 

Serves: 3-4

INGREDIENTS

Sauce

  • 1¼ cups water
  • 1½ tbsp cornstarch / cornflour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 1 tsp sesame oil (optional)
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp dark soy sauce (Note 1)
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce (Note 1)
  • 1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) or dry sherry
  • ⅛ tsp Chinese five spice powder (Note 2)
  • ⅛ tsp tsp black pepper

Stir Fry

  • 4 - 5 cups broccoli florets (about 1½ heads of broccoli)
  • 2 tbsp oil, separated
  • 1 garlic clove, crushed
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
  • 12 oz beef flank steak or skirt steak

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Place the water and cornstarch / cornflour into a jar. Shake to combine. Then add the remaining Sauce ingredients into the jar and shake.
  2. Slice the beef into ¼"  thick slices. Place the beef and 2 tbsp of the Sauce into a bowl and set aside.
  3. Steam or par boil the broccoli. (Note 3)
  4. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok (or heavy based fry pan) over high heat until smoking.
  5. Add the beef and sear quickly until browned. Then remove from the pan and set aside.
  6. Heat the remaining 1 tbsp of oil into the wok, then add the ginger and garlic. Cook for 20 to 30 seconds until the garlic and ginger is fragrant. Add the broccoli and stir quickly.
  7. Shake the jar then pour it all into the wok. Stir fry for 30 seconds or so - the sauce should be bubbling away and beginning to thicken. Then toss the beef back in and stir fry for another 1 minute until the sauce thickens and coats the broccoli and beef.
  8. Remove from heat and serve immediately with rice.

NOTES

1. The two most common Chinese soy sauces are Dark Soy Sauce and Light Soy Sauce. Dark Soy Sauce is darker in color, richer, thicker and sweeter. Light Soy Sauce is lighter in color but it is saltier. You can get both at the large supermarkets..

You can substitute the Light and Dark Soy Sauce with 2 tbsp of ordinary soy sauce + 1 tsp honey (or brown sugar). The color of your sauce won't be quite as dark but the flavor will be quite similar.

2. Chinese Five Spice Powder is a mix of five spices. It is available in the herb and spice section of supermarkets and it costs no more than other spices.

3. Place the broccoli into a pot of boiling water, then when it comes back up to a boil, let it boil for 40 seconds (for just cooked) or 1 minute (for tender) then drain. The residual heat will cook the broccoli through while sitting in the colander.