Beef & Broccoli

This is my go to "health" food. Whenever I feel like I haven't been eating well, namely in chest pains or stomachaches, I make beef & broccoli. It's probably not that healthy, but I always feel better after eating it. The broccoli alone's gotta be doing something for me.

I originally wrote this on Imgur, before it became an unreliable archive. You can still read it here, probably. All the images here are pulled from that old Imgur guide and are not 100% reflective of what I do nowadays, but they're close enough.

The food


(Click images to see them in full size)
  • Sliced beef
  • Broccoli
  • Asian noodles or white Jasmine rice
  • Sesame oil
  • Rice wine
  • Beef bouillon
  • Oyster sauce or hoisin sauce
  • Soy sauce
  • Garlic powder
  • Onion powder
  • Corn starch
  • Sugar

    The tools

  • One small pot
  • One large pan
  • If you make noodles: Another small pot
  • If you make rice: One large pot
  • A stovetop with 2-3 burners

    The steps

    Step one is to make a brown sauce. I don't remember the original recipe I pulled this from, but here's my modified version.

    I start by eyeballing 1 tablespoon of oyster/hoisin sauce & 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. You can measure it if you want, but it really doesn't need to be exact. I just pour some in until it looks right.

    Whether you use oyster or hoisin sauce depends on if you want sweet (hoisin) or savory (oyster).

    Next is garlic powder, and yeah I eyeball this too. About 1tsp. You can also add onion powder if you want.

    Lastly, I add a corn starch slurry. 1tsp of corn starch in ¼cup of water, along with ¼tsp of beef bouillon and 1 whole teaspoon of sugar. I used to dissolve the bouillon in a separate ¼cup, but that produced way more liquid than I actually want; especially if I pick rice instead of noodles. If there's not enough liquid, I just add more soy sauce.

    First time I started adding sugar, I tried using a tablespoon. But that was way too sweet and resulted in weirdly uneven sweetness. 1tsp is perfect.

    Put the pot on low heat, mix everything together, and leave it there. Keep an eye on it, make sure it doesn't reduce too much, feel free to loosen it with more soy sauce or turn the heat even lower.

    If you're making noodles, start boiling your water now.

    On a separate burner, throw some broccoli into a pan with sesame oil. Once it's hot, I add my secret ingredient: Splash in some rice wine and put a lid on it. The rice wine will steam the veggies, deepen their color, and enhance their taste. I've made this without wine, and I've tried using rice vinegar instead, but rice wine specifically really does make a difference.

    When they're adequately steamed, you can shift the broccoli to the side. Add more sesame oil if the veggies are hogging it, and start layering in your meat. It's okay if they overlap, but don't pile it on. Feel free to add more as they shrink & contract, and once it's all browned you can mix it in with the vegetables.

    If you're making noodles, add them to your boiling water now. If you're using actual Asian noodles, or even just instant ramen, it should take 3-5 minutes.

    I like to use my noodles and their boiling water as timers for cooking the beef & broccoli. Steam the veggies until the water boils, brown the meat until the noodles are done.

    At this point you can now add your rice/noodles. If you use rice, be sure to stir slow. It'll throw itself out of the pan if you go too fast. Once incorporated, you can pour in the sauce and stir that in as well.

    Finally, move it all into a bowl & enjoy.

    Bonus: How to make rice

    Noodles can be prepared alongside the dish, but rice has to be prepared beforehand. If you somehow don't known how to make rice, here's how:

  • Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in a large pot
  • Once boiling, add 2 cups of rice and cover it
  • Turn the heat down low & let it sit for 20 minutes
  • After 20 minutes, take the lid off and fluff it with a chopstick

    Congratulations. You've made rice. You won't need that much rice for one bowl of beef & broccoli, but I guarantee you won't regret making a larger batch.