Beef and Broccoli Stir-Fry

Ingredients

• 500 g rump or sirloin, sliced thinly against the grain
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tsp sugar
• 400 g broccoli, cut into small florets
• 4 garlic cloves, sliced
• 25 g ginger, julienned
• 3 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 3 spring onions, cut into batons

Method

1. Velvet the beef

   Toss the sliced beef with the cornflour and half the soy sauce and leave for fifteen minutes. This coating — velveting — is why restaurant stir-fried beef is tender and home versions are chewy.

   15 min

2. Mix the sauce

   Stir the remaining soy with the Shaoxing wine, oyster sauce and sugar. Have it beside the hob: once the wok is hot there is no time to measure.

3. Blanch the broccoli

   Drop the broccoli into boiling water for ninety seconds, then drain well. Raw broccoli in a wok scorches outside before the stalk softens.

   2 min

4. Sear the beef

   Get the wok smoking, add the oil and spread the beef in a single layer. Leave it untouched for a full minute to catch, then toss until just browned and tip it out.

   3 min

5. Bring it together

   Add a little more oil, fry the garlic and ginger for a few seconds, then return the beef with the broccoli and pour in the sauce. Toss until it thickens and coats everything.

   2 min

6. Finish

   Off the heat, add the sesame oil and spring onions and serve at once with rice.