Stir Fry Beef with Broccoli

Stir Fry Beef with Broccoli

Serve 4

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sherry apple juice
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 300g beef steak, cut into thin strips
• 300g broccoli florets
• handful of spring onions
• one and half cups of rice, unboiled

1. Boil the rice until cooked through and set aside
   Mix the soy sauce, apple juice, sugar and 2 tbsp water in a small bowl. Heat the oil in a large frying pan or wok, add the onion and beef, then stir-fry quickly until the beef is lightly browned. Tip out onto a plate.
2. Add the broccoli and spring onions to the pan, stir-fry for 1 min, then add the soy mixture. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 5 mins until the broccoli is just tender.
3. Tip the beef and onion back into the pan and heat through briefly before serving with the rice.

Modified from http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/5072/stirfried-beef-with-cashews-and-broccoli

The internet tells me I can substitute apple juice for sherry so that is what I did. The beef came from the local butchers. It's expensive but at least I know it's not horsemeat.

It's easier to cut the broccoli before frying the onions

Frying the broccoli

Cooked beef and onions

Everything together

One of three servings of leftovers

I think I left the meat cooking too long - it was a bit tough. I wanted to make sure that it was cooked through but I over did it.

The soy sauce/apple juice mixture tasted fine, there was nothing wrong with it. The meal just didn't have the special 'oomp' that I've come to expect from beef and broccoli. It wasn't bad and I've definitely have worse from my college's cafeteria, it just wasn't extraordinary. 

If I substituted the beef out for chicken or tofu, or left it out entirely, and then added carrots, water chestnuts and bok choy or fennel, it might make a good stir fry dish. Possibilities...

300g of beef precut into strips: EUR 5.86 at the local butcher's
1 large head of broccoli: EUR 2.05 at Tesco
Apple Juice, 1/15 of a carton at EUR 1.49/carton = EUR 0.10 at Tesco
Red Onion: EUR 0.22 at Tesco
Green Onions: EUR 0.79 at Tesco
Soy Sauce, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 2.20/bottle = EUR 0.11 at Tesco
Sugar, 1/30 of a bag at EUR 0.75/bag = 0.03 at Tesco
Rice, 1/5 of a bag at EUR 1.49/bag = EUR 0.30 at Lidl
Vegetable Oil, 1/20 of a bottle at EUR 1.99/bottle = EUR 0.10 at Lidl
Total cost: EUR 9.66 for four servings or EUR 2.42 for one serving