A great stir-fry is a gift to weeknight cooks. After the initial chopping and slicing, few things cook faster or give more satisfying results. Since this is a Chinese technique, it’s ideal for dishes like Beef with Broccoli, that Chinese takeout standby. To the original recipe I added Red Pepper and Scallions for taste and color. Ordinarily, Beef with Broccoli relies on Oyster Sauce for its flavor. A concentrated dark brown sauce with a slightly sweet and smoky flavor, Oyster Sauce is in fact made from dried oysters. Oyster Sauce originated in southern China where it is used as a seasoning for simply cooked vegetables and meat. But to make today’s dish, I didn’t use Oyster Sauce. I relied on a brand new “Tangy-Hot Asian Barbecue Sauce” from Corine’s Cuisine. It was such a success I wanted to pass it on to you.
Corine’s Cuisine is an on-line shop (www.corinescuisine.com) that’s just opened. Corine is Corine Parish, who with her husband, Ray Parish, is a passionate cook with a particular passion for exploring culinary cultures the world over. That’s obvious when you look at her line of hot sauces. At the moment, they number just four and to keep things simple they’re numbered too. #3 is a Spicy Hot Pepper Sauce with Jamaican roots. # 10 is a Scotch Bonnet Hot Pepper Sauce. #23 is “A Classic Caribbean Fiery Hot Sauce”. And then we come to # 28, a tangy hot Asian BBQ sauce and the basis for today’s recipe for Beef with Broccoli. You can order all of these on-line and in just days you will greet the arrival of a beautifully put together package that will inspire all kinds of great dishes. And if you’re in need of inspiration, visit www.corinescuisine.comwebsite where new recipes are being added all the time. You may even find this one.
Stir Frying is called ‘chão’ in Chinese. It’s basically sautéing food in very hot oil and it’s used all over China. The technique goes far back in Chinese history but its use became widespread much more recently. That’s when affluent families could afford cooking oil and as more people did, stir-frying took off. The term ‘stir-frying’ was only introduced in this country in 1945. Its popularity only grew from there. Because it combines vegetables, lean meats and fish, with their moderate fat contents, and sauces, which are not overly rich, stir-frying is seen as a healthier way to cook. A word about woks: The bowl-like shape of the walk is ideal for the technique described here. But the truth is you can create a perfectly good stir-fry in any large sauté pan. It doesn’t even have to be non-stick just as long as you follow the rules.
The technique for all stir-fries is always the same. First the pan is heated to a high temperature. A small amount of oil is added down the side followed by dry seasonings like ginger, garlic, scallions or shallots. The seasonings are tossed with a spatula until they are fragrant, then the longest cooking item, in this case beef, is added. In this case the meat is removed from the pan before the vegetables are cooked in it. When the latter are done, the meat is added back into the pan and then the sauce is added. In our case, that sauce was Corine’s Cuisine #28. This sauce contains myriad ingredients including such Asian standbys as Soy Sauce, Mirin and Fish sauce. To these are added the spice of Scotch Bonnet Peppers, Lime Juice, Scallions and Cilantro and for sweetness brown sugar and rice wine. It is a delicious way to add much more flavor to Beef with Broccoli than you’ll find at any Chinese restaurant. This would undoubtedly be wonderful served over steamed rice to catch all the sauce. However, we’re still eating ours the low carb way, without the rice. Here’s the recipe.
knife
1.Cut the steak across the grain into strips 3 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. In a bowl, stir together the cornstarch, salt, sugar, baking soda and 2 Tbs. water. Add the beef and stir until well mixed. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Bring a saucepan three-fourths full of water to a boil over high heat. Add the broccoli florets and blanch until just tender, 3 to 4 minutes. Drain, rinse under running cold water until cool and drain again. Set aside.
3. Remove the beef from the bowl and pat dry with paper towels. In a wok or large, deep sauté pan over high heat, warm 2 Tbs. of the peanut oil until very hot. Add the beef and stir-fry until it just turns opaque, 3 to 4 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, quickly transfer the beef to a sieve placed over a bowl to drain.
4. Wipe out the pan with paper towels and reheat over high heat. Add the remaining 1 Tbs. oil and heat until very hot. Add the garlic and ginger and stir-fry just until golden brown, 15 to 20 seconds. Using the slotted spoon,
remove the ginger and discard. Add the scallions and red pepper strips to the pan and stir-fry until just tender, about 5 minutes.
5. Pour in the rice wine and deglaze the pan, stirring to scrape up the browned bits from the pan bottom. When the wine has evaporated, add Corine’s Cuisine # 28 sauce and the water, stir and bring to a boil. Immediately add the beef and broccoli and stir-fry until the sauce thickens and the beef is heated through, about 3 minutes. Transfer the beef and broccoli to a warmed bowl and serve. Serves 4.
