Beef and Broccoli Recipe

A few of you have asked for me to share my beef and broccoli recipe.  I prepared this for dinner a couple of weekends ago when my brother was in town, and was able to take note of how much of which ingredient I was using.  If you are trying this recipe out, use this as a base and play with it a little until you create what you like.  Hope you enjoy!

Beef and Broccoli
-3/4 to 1 lb of meat (I used a petite sirloin - my mom likes to use a round roast)
-1 or 2 heads of broccoli (I like more)
-1 yellow onion, sliced
-1 or 2 cloves of garlic, crushed/chopped/sliced
-Vegetable Oil
-Sugar

Marinade
-1 Tbsp Oyster Sauce

-1 Tbsp Soy Sauce (The brand you use REALLY makes a difference in the taste of your food.  I use the Golden Mountain brand.)

-1 Tbsp Water
-1 Tbsp Cornstarch

Sauce
-2 Tbsp of Oyster Sauce
-1-2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce

-3 Tbsp of Water

-A dash of Garlic Salt

-A dash of Pepper

-Dried Onion Flakes and/or Onion Powder

-1 tsp of sugar

Thickener

-1 Tbsp Cornstarch

-2 Tbsp Water

Prepare the beef.  Cut the beef into thin strips and throw into ziploc bag.  Mix the marinade ingredients with the beef, rubbing the cornstarch onto the beef strips last.  Let the beef marinate in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Prepare the sauce and thickener.  For the sauce, mix the oyster sauce, soy sauce, water and spices together and set aside.  For the thickener, mix the cornstarch and water and set aside.

Prepare the broccoli.  Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil.  Wash and cut up the broccoli.  (While you're waiting for the water to boil, you can also slice your onion and garlic if you haven't already done so.)  When the water is ready, drop the cut broccoli into the boiling water.  The broccoli will quickly change to a bright green color.  Once all of it has changed to this bright green color, drain and set aside.  This process takes about a minute or two.  I hardly ever cook the broccoli longer than a minute because I like my broccoli crisp.

Cook the beef.  Heat a little bit of oil in the wok.  When it's ready, cook your beef, stirring occassionally.  When cooked, remove from the wok and set aside.

Stir Fry the Veggies.  Wipe out the wok and add a little bit of fresh oil.  Stir fry the onions and garlic until tender to your desire.  Add the broccoli to the wok.  Sprinkle a little bit of sugar (about 1 tsp) over the broccoli and stir fry for about a minute, then stir in the cooked meat.

Add the Sauce.  Make a well in the middle of the wok.  Pour in your sauce, then stir in the thickener.  Mix everything together.

Serve.  Serve over steamed rice.  And if you don't own a rice cooker, I think you should.  :)

Time Saving Tips:

-When meat goes on sale, I purchase what I can fit into the budget that week and freeze it.  In this instance, I already had the meat sliced and frozen in a ziploc bag labeled for this meal.  I just took it out to thaw in the fridge the day before, cutting out the step of having to slice my meat when preparing this meal.  (I also do this with chicken when it goes on sale.)

-I buy a bag of onions at a time and freeze what I don't use. I recently got a 3lb bag of onions from ALDI for $0.75.  I KNOW!  A SUPER GREAT DEAL!  So, I chopped some, and sliced some, and have them stored in my freezer.  The onions I used went straight from the freezer to the wok.  (I do this with bell peppers, too.  Onions and peppers seem to be the vegetables I cook with most often.)