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Faster than Take Out Beef with Broccoli for One

Literally faster than Take Out, plenty of variations for your personal preferences.
Course: Main Course, meat
Cuisine: Asian-Inspired, Keto Friendly, Low Carb
Keyword: beef with broccoli, Chinese food, quick recipe
Author: Adrienne Harvey

Ingredients

Ingredients

  • 1 broccoli stalk I buy the bunches of broccoli with 3-4 stems. Use one stem per serving and chop into bite size pieces
  • 8 oz sirloin steak Slice into 1/4 inch bite size pieces (think Chinese Take Out)
  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil Or saved bacon grease
  • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar "seasoned" just means it has salt in it
  • 1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce Great instant seasoning to have around
  • 1 tsp honey Or Agave Nectar - both are optional by the way
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce Or Wheat Free Tamari
  • 1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine I like Shao Hsing Hua Tiao Chiew for this purpose and not just because of the cool clay gourd shaped bottle
  • 1 pinch Chinese five spice powder Totally optional, delicious with and without

Instructions

  • This is one of my go to recipes for "I want Chinese Food RIGHT NOW" situations. This is faster and healthier than getting take out if you happen to have these or similar ingredients on hand. You can substitute other veggies for the broccoli - such as bok choy, or even cauliflower. If you want to get "fancy" feel free to add in some chopped onion and some white pepper for additional seasoning. I've left this recipe basic on purpose though, because there are enough recipes out there. If you're not avoiding grains, this goes very well with brown rice - or if you are (and haven't substituted cauliflower, serving this with "cauliflower rice" ala Primal Blueprint, is fantastic!)
  • Here's the efficient workflow version of the directions: Place the Chinese cooking wine, rice wine vinegar, chili garlic sauce, optional honey or agave nectar and soy sauce in a small bowl. Add the sliced beef.
  • While this is marinating, heat the skillet on medium (I always use Granny's hand me down cast iron) or wok with your oil of choice. Today I used the bacon grease since I baked bacon last night and have a nice collection ready to go.
  • Chop the broccoli while this heating is happening, then immediately toss the beef/marinade/sauce into the skillet. Let it simmer for just a moment, then flip/stir the beef pieces.
  • Cook for one moment more then add the vegetables. Stir every 30 seconds or so until the broccoli is cooked but not overcooked. Hopefully during this time you washed out the marinade bowl, because if you have, go ahead and serve your meal in there! Faster than calling in an order then driving to go get it - no cornstarch and no mystery meats or mystery oils!
  • I use variations on this marinade for other "I want Chinese Take Out" meals - and interestingly it works really well with chicken (and some forms of seafood!) Adjust the measurements to your taste, this works well hot and spicy or in mild variations too!

Notes

These are the "usual suspects" in what I call (in my head, I don't actually go around saying stuff like this) Chinese-ish instant yummy sauce. Again, play around with the ingredients until you find your own perfect mix - the only thing you need to watch out for is making the sauce too salty - depending on the cooking wine, the vinegar and brand of chili garlic sauce you get, the sodium level can rise exponentially if you're not careful. The cooking wine really is essential to this sauce - its the missing ingredient in many of the Asian style dishes you may have tried to make at home. It has that rich, dark, almost meaty taste that you get at restaurants - and regardless of what you may read on the internet, I personally don't think that there is a real substitute for it. Besides, my favorite brand comes in this awesome clay gourd bottle that always reminds me of the Kung Fu classic Drunken Master!