Broccoli in Garlic Sauce

Broccoli for dinner!

After the Colonial Beach Sip-N-Stroll/Art Walk, I wanted a quick, simple dinner. I looked in my fridge, which pretty much only had stuff in the veggie drawer (I didn’t plan very well today) and decided to go vegan (if you don’t count the fish sauce). Asian Broccoli on Jasmine Rice.

INGREDIENTS:
1 medium-large crown of broccoli
3-4 garlic cloves
1 small thumb of ginger (about the same amount as the garlic)
1/2 a chili. I had a jalapeno.
1 1/2 cup water or stock for rice, 1 cup for sauce
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoons sugar (I used agave)
2 teaspoons mustard
2 tablespoons fish sauce
1-2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
2-3 tablespoons cornstarch
Pepper
Olive oil
1 cup white rice, I like jasmine

DIRECTIONS:

Get the water/stock boiling. Add the rice and stir. Turn the heat to low, cover and cook 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let it rest 5 more minutes. Fluff before serving.

While you’re getting the rice going, peel and chop the garlic and ginger with the chili.

Put a steamer basket at the bottom of a big pot and put in enough water to come up to the basket. Cover the pot, put the heat on high and bring the water to a boil.

While you’re waiting for the water to boil, cut the broccoli into bite-sized florets. When the steamer is steaming, throw in all the broccoli, cover, and get a big bowl of ice water ready. When the broccoli has steamed for three minutes, pull it out and dump it immediately into the ice water. Stir it around until the pieces have all cooled down. They should feel a little undercooked at this stage.

Coat the pan with olive oil, throw in the garlic, ginger and chili, stir and fry for a couple minutes until soft. Put in the cup of water or stock, soy sauce, sugar, mustard, fish sauce, sesame oil, onion powder and a few grinds of pepper.

While that’s simmering, dissolve the cornstarch in just enough water to make a thick slurry. While one hand stirs, use the other hand to drizzle in slurry until you get a very thick consistency — you might not need all of the slurry.

Pull the broccoli out of the water, drain it thoroughly and toss it in the sauce until warm and coated. You can stir in water if the sauce is too thick. Dish out the rice, serve the broccoli and extra sauce on top.