Recipe video above. Faster than take out, healthier and tastier. This is a recipe from a Chinese restaurant! If using economical beef, consider tenderising it the Chinese way ("velveting", simple, highly effective!)
Place cornflour and water in bowl then mix. Add remaining Sauce ingredients.
Slice the beef into 1/4" / 0.5cm thick slices. Place the beef and 2 tbsp of the Sauce into a bowl and set aside.
Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Add beef and spread out, leave for 1 minute until browned.
Stir beef for 10 seconds, then add garlic and ginger. Stir for another 30 seconds or until beef is no longer pink.
Pour Sauce and water into the skillet and quickly mix.
When the sauce starts bubbling, add broccoli. Stir to coat the broccoli in Sauce, then let it simmer for 1 minute or until Sauce is thickened.
Remove from heat immediately and serve over rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if desired.
Notes
1. Dark soy sauce makes the sauce colour darker and it has more flavour than light soy sauce. Can use all-purpose soy sauce or just light soy sauce in place of both the soy sauces but the sauce colour will be lighter. Do not use all dark soy sauce - flavour will be too strong.2. Chinese cooking wine is an essential ingredient in Chinese stir fry sauces and without it, it will lack that true "restaurant" edge. Dry sherry is a terrific sub, or cooking sake. Mirin can also be used but omit the sugar.If you cannot consume alcohol, replace 3/4 cup of the water with low sodium chicken broth.3. 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.4. Beef - As with all stir fries, this cooks very quickly so you need to use a decent cut of beef for it. Rump, flank, sirloin, t-bone and scotch fillet are excellent for this recipe.Slice the beef against the grain. When you look at the beef, you will notice that the fibres are mostly going in one direction. Place the beef in front of you so the fibres are going left to right. Then cut through the fibres i.e. cut perpendicular to the direction of the fibres (see here for illustrative image). Cutting it this way makes the beef more tender!Slow cooking cuts, like chuck, are not suitable unless you tenderise it (see How to tenderise beef the Chinese restaurant way)5. If par boiling, 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.6. Adapted from this recipe from Woks of Life, my "go to" resource for Chinese takeout recipes!7. Nutrition per serving, excluding rice.Originally published March 2015, updated with new photos, new words, slightly more streamlined recipe and a recipe video!