Beef & Broccoli (牛肉炒西蘭花)

Find the grains of the beef (12 oz) and cut against it. Do not cut the beef too thinly because thin meat will break easily during the cooking process.

Place the meat in the bowl of water to wash the blood from the meat. To make this go faster, massage the meat in water. Once washing is completed, place the meat in a strainer to strain excess water and blood.

If you skip this step, the meat would turn black from the blood and not look appetizing.

Using baking soda with meat is a common technique in Chinese cooking. It helps tenderize the beef. Depending on the weight of the meat, you will need to adjust the amount of baking soda. In this case, add baking soda (1 tsp), oyster sauce, light soy sauce, water (2 tbsp), cornstarch, white pepper, sugar, and cooking wine.

Mix until incorporated.

Now move onto the broccoli (1 lb) and cut it into bite-size pieces. Make sure to separate the large main stem for easier cooking.

Cut the carrot (0.50 ) into thin slivers for a more colorful presentation. Chinese restaurants tend to cut the carrots into little shapes to bring a more visual impact but feel free to keep it simple here.

Cut the ginger (1 small piece) into small cubes. A few slices will be sufficient.

Cut scallions (1 stem) into small pieces on a diagonal.

And mince the garlic (2 cloves).

In a small bowl, mix the oyster sauce (1 tbsp), light soy sauce (1 tsp), dark soy sauce (1 tsp), water (1 tbsp), cooking wine (1 tbsp), sugar (1 tsp), cornstarch (1 tsp), and white pepper (0.25 tsp).

Adjust to taste.

In a medium pot, bring the water to a boil and add a splash of oil and a generous pinch of salt (1 pinch). This helps to keep the broccoli green during cooking.

Add the broccoli to the boiling water and cook it to your preference. Do not cook it for too long if you like a crunchier texture. If you like a softer texture, you can cook it for a longer period of time. For reference, we cooked it for about 2 minutes.

Once cooked, drain the broccoli. If you aren't going to stir-fry them immediately after, cool them with running water. Otherwise, you don't have to.

Add some cooking oil (1 tbsp) into the marinated beef and mix until all the meat is lightly coated in oil. This will seal in the juices of the meat.

Heat up the wok to the highest heat then add cooking oil (2 tbsp). Swirl the cooking oil around the wok to fully coat the bottom and sides. Pour out the excess oil.

Slowly lower the heat and put in the meat. Cook the beef for around 30-60 seconds, or when it turns brown, which is your cue to flip.

Flip the beef and cook it for 60-90 seconds or until it's mostly brown. It's fine if it's a little red, because we will continue to cook it with the vegetables.

Once mostly cooked, turn off the heat and take the meat out from the wok. Set aside.

Add the remaining oil and stir-fry the sides.

Add the garlic (2 cloves) and ginger (1 small piece) first and fry for 20-30 seconds. Put in the scallions (1 stem) and carrot slices (0.50 ) and cook for another 20-30 seconds. Once cooked, add the broccoli (1 lb). Cook for another 30-40 seconds.

Add back the beef. Cook everything together for 30-45 seconds.

Because the broccoli absorbs a lot of liquid, you can add extra water to the sauce. We suggest 1 tbsp if needed.

Add the sauce to the stir-fry and constantly mix for about 1 minute. Add sesame oil (1 tsp). Once everything is incorporated, add a little more leftover oil to coat the broccoli- it will make it look very appetizing.

This last bit of finishing oil is called 'mei jau' pronounced "may-yao". This is usually practiced in restaurants.