Broccoli beef is also called Xilan beef, Kai-lan beef, or gailian beef. Although this dish is not a big hit in China, broccoli beef is made famous in USA. It became famous for a good reason: This is one balanced dish with good portion of protein and vegetable which contains most of the nutrient you need! Every time I go to Panda Express, I will order Orange chicken first, and then pick broccoli beef to balance my guilt. However, please don’t get me wrong, it’s also very delicious. This is the only dish I can eat without worry too much about my health. Broccoli beef is wonderful and easy to make. It’s something you can quickly make at home within half hour! In fact, I spend more time to type out this recipe than making it! Let’s check it out how simple it is!
Ingredients
- 1 pound of beef flank
- 4 cloves of garlic minced (about 2 tbsp)
- 1 inch of ginger minced (about 1 tbsp)
- 3 cups of broccoli
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
Marinade ingredients
- 2 tbsp of cornstarch
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 2 tbsp of rice wine
- 1 tbsp of sugar
cornstarch slurry ingredients
- 2 tbsp of cornstarch
- ½ cup of water
First, we need to slice our beef. You know that I am a food slicer fanatic, I will promote food slicer whenever there is a chance, without anyone paying me to do so. I believe food slicer is one of the best invention that enables every family cook to make some fancier dishes. However, this time, we will hand slice our beef. For broccoli beef, the texture of beef is key to a good broccoli beef. Therefore, you don’t want to slice your beef too thin that you can’t taste the texture of the meat. Hand slice your beef and it’s ok if it looks a bit thick, ¼” to ½” would be fine. In fact, if you are too skillful, you might even need to slice it a bit thicker on purpose. Have fun slicing it and it’s time to move forward!
Now you can marinate your beef with cornstarch, soy sauce, rice wine and sugar. It’s a very common marinade you see with many other dishes. Even though oyster sauce is the key flavor to this dish, we do not want to add it here for a simple reason: Most of the time you don’t only prepare your ingredient for only one dish. Most of the time, you will need to cook 3 to 4 different dishes for a family dinner or friends’ visit. Therefore, by keeping your meat marinade common, you can prepare a big batch of marinated beef and cook them into different beef dishes such as green onion beef, Kung Pao beef and etc. Marinate the beef for at least 15 min. Now you should prepare other ingredients. By the time we come back to the beef, it will be well marinated and ready to cook!
Now mix the cornstarch slurry, minced garlic and ginger
Personally, I love to buy a bag of ready broccoli. They sell this at salad section so apparently someone eat it as a salad. With one bag of broccoli, you can save the hassle of washing and cutting your broccoli. Now it’s time to start cooking!
Heat up a pan at medium heat with 2 tbsp of oil. Add 1 tbsp of garlic and stir fry for 20 seconds until aromatic. Add in broccoli, now it’s time to add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce for the unique taste of broccoli beef. Stir-fry for 2 min and mix well so all the broccoli are coated with oyster sauce and flavored oil.
Now add ¼ cup of water and quickly close the lid. The heat will turn the water into steam and cook the broccoli thoroughly. Cook for another 2 min. After this is done, set aside for later use.
No need to wash your pan! While your pan is still hot, add 1 tbsp of oil. Heat at medium heat and add 1 tbsp of garlic with 1 tbsp of ginger.Stir-fry for 20 seconds until aromatic and start cooking your beef until well done at medium heat for about 3 min. Now add cornstarch slurry and stir until thickened. Now add the cooked broccoli and mix well. There you go! Your awesome homemade broccoli beef.
- 1 pound of beef flank
- 4 cloves of garlic minced (about 2 tbsp)
- 1 inch of ginger minced (about 1 tbsp)
- 3 cups of broccoli
- 1 tbsp of oyster sauce
- 2 tbsp of cornstarch
- 2 tbsp of soy sauce
- 2 tbsp of rice wine
- 1 tbsp of sugar
- 2 tbsp of cornstarch
- ½ cup of water
- thinly slice the beef flank to ¼” to ⅕” thickness
- marinate beef with soy sauce, starch, rice wine and sugar, let it rest for at least 15 min
- Make cornstarch slurry with cornstarch and water
- mince garlic and ginger
- wash the broccoli if needed
- heat up a pan at medium heat with 2 tbsp of oil
- Add 1 tbsp of garlic, stir fry for 20 sec until aromatic
- Add in broccoli, add 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, stir fry for 2 min
- Add ¼ cup of water, close the lid and let the steam cook the broccoli for 2 more min
- Set aside for later use
- With the same pot, add 1 tbsp of oil, heat at medium heat
- Add 1 tbsp of garlic and 1 tbsp of ginger, stir fry for 20 sec until aromatic
- Stir fry sliced beef at medium heat for 3 min or until cooked
- Add cornstarch slurry and cook until thickened
- Add cooked broccoli and mix well