Broccoli with Garlic
- Serves 3
This Broccoli and stir-fry is not just easy to make but also ready within minutes. Before moving to China, I wasn’t a big fan of Broccoli. It was only after I had this beautiful stir-fry of crispy-fried garlic and broccoli that I gained respect for the vegetable.
When cooking the dish, make sure you don’t burn the garlic. Add broccoli immediately after adding garlic; this way they can both cook at the same time. Many people prefer blanching their broccoli, and then quickly stir-frying it with the sauce. I take a slightly different approach and like to brown my broccoli with garlic; this imparts both extra flavor and gets rid of the unpleasant smell that I associate with the vegetable.
Don’t discard broccoli stalks - they are delicious; instead peel the stalks and cut into 1/2 cm thick pieces and add it in along with the florets. Finally, don’t be afraid to brown your garlic. Crispy-golden garlic has a wonderful flavor - just don’t let it burn. Enjoy the recipe!
Ingredients
1 pound broccoli, cut into florets, and stalks peeled and chopped
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1½ teaspoons rice wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon sugar
¾ cup chicken or vegetable stock (to keep the dish vegetarian
½ teaspoon sesame oil
A pinch of fresh ground white pepper
2 tablespoons vegetable or coconut oil
4 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
Cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons water)
1 teaspoon homemade or store-bought chili oil (optional)
Recipes
1. Wash the broccoli thoroughly and set aside. In a bowl, mix together dark soy sauce, light soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, sugar, stock, sesame oil, and ground white pepper, and set aside.
2. Heat a wok over medium-high heat. Add oil, garlic, and broccoli and continue to stir-fry for 3-4 minutes making sure the garlic doesn’t burn. Sprinkle some water if garlic starts to over-brown.
3. Next, add the Shaoxing rice wine around the perimeter of the wok. Give everything a quick stir and add in the sauce mixture. Let the sauce come to the boil.
4. Mix the cornstarch and water together to make a slurry. Add the cornstarch slurry slowly while stirring the broccoli and sauce constantly. Let the sauce cook and thicken until it coats the back of a spoon (1-2 minutes). I also like to stir in a bit of chili oil at this point. Serve hot!