This is a very basic and healthy Cantonese garlic broccoli stir-fry, almost popular in every Cantonese restaurant.
Though broccoli is not a native ingredient in China, it obtains a high popularity in the past decades. It is healthy, easy to prepare and almost all purpose in stir-fry dishes. Before moving to Guangdong province, I have no likes for broccoli. After the first bite of this garlic broccoli in a small street restaurant 5 years ago, I fell in love with it and brought this idea to my daily cooking plan.
Though this is quite simple but there are still some tips deserving discussion.
Whether blanch the broccoli firstly or not?
I understand that blanching vegetables is not a popular cooking method but I still highly recommend it. Blanching process can shorten the stir-frying process and keep the broccoli crunchy and light green.
Whether oyster sauce is necessary?
Theoretically oyster sauce is not necessary. Garlic, oil and salt can bring enough flavors. But oyster sauce can give this dish a faint sweet and seafood taste. If you are on a vegan diet, you can mix light soy sauce with sugar and use that as a substitute.
- 1 head broccoli , separated into florets
- 1 tbsp. vegetable oil
- 2 garlic cloves , finely chopped
- pinch of salt
- 1/4 tsp. sesame oil
- 1/2 tbsp. oyster sauce , or 1/2 tbsp. light soy sauce + 1/8 teaspoon sugar
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Bring enough water to a boil in a large pot, add pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon sesame oil and then cook broccoli for around 1 minute. Transfer out. (No need to drain)
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Heat cooking oil in wok and fry chopped garlic until aroma over slow fire, then turn up the fire and slide broccoli in.
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Add salt and oyster sauce, mix well. And serve warm.
This recipe is AMAZING!!! Exactly the taste I’ve been craving for! Tastes like the real authentic deal! Will definitely make again. I also chucked in some carrots ans pak choi which was wonderful!
I believe you must enjoyed a very colorful broccoli dish. Good job!
I love this recipe and so does my family! The only problem is I never end up with any leftovers no matter how much I make lol
Thanks Jess!!
This is such a cheering comment.
As a Chinese, I made this very often, it’s quite interesting to read foreigns’ article about Chinese recipes.
Nice easy to make recipe, my wife loves to eat this in Chinese restaurants, so made it home.
Came out perfect. Added a few flakes of red chilli !
Thanks Ranga. Big Huge!
I had a broccoli dish at a restaurant in Beijing and have tried to reproduce it with no luck. This dish is SO similar! The flavours are subtle like I remember. Thank you for this recipe.
My pleasure, Stef. Love to be helpful.