Chinese Beef & Broccoli Recipe (with Video)

1. Prepare the ingredients
2. 1. Identify the grain of the flank steak (the direction the muscle fibers are running), and slice against, or perpendicular, to that direction. Hold your knife slice diagonally to get pieces with large surface area.
3. 2. Add all the marinade ingredients to the beef, except for the neutral oil. Mix well. Add the neutral oil last and give it one last mix. Set aside to let marinade while you prep the other ingredients. (Don't let this marinade for more than 30 min! Because it contains baking soda, it can get unpleasantly tender if left in the marinade for too long.)
4. 3. Wash and cut the broccoli into florets. Keep the stems, but slice off any dry or tough ends. Mince the garlic.
5. 4. In a bowl, mix all of the sauce ingredients together.
Steam or blanch the broccoli
1. 1. Because I like to cook this all in the same pan, I just bring 1/2 cup of water to boil in a large pan, then add my broccoli and cover to let steam for 1-2 minutes. 1 minute if you like really crunchy broccoli, and 2 minutes if you prefer it a little softer.
2. 2. Remove the broccoli from the pan, and pour out any remaining water.
Cook the beef and combine with broccoli
1. 1. Heat up the pan to medium-high heat. Add 2 tbsp of neutral oil. Once it's hot, add the marinated beef. Spread the slices evenly across the pan to get a good sear. Let it cook for 1-2 minutes, or until nicely caramelized, then flip the pieces.
2. 2. Once almost cooked through, add the minced garlic and stir-fry for 1 min.
3. 3. Add the broccoli back to the pan. Give the sauce a stir to dissolve any settled cornstarch, then add it to the pan.
4. 4. Mix well. Once thickened slightly, it's ready! Enjoy with some rice.