Today, my dad’s gonna show us how a master chef turns broccoli into a simple gourmet meal: Stir-fried Broccoli with Garlic. If you’re tired of making broccoli that’s either too dry or too soggy, my dad’s gonna teach you the restaurant secrets to develop the perfect crunch paired with a juicy, savory sauce that’ll satisfy even the pickiest of eaters. Cheers! We’ll start a pro-tip for washing broccoli. First, I'll show you how to wash the broccoli before cutting it. Prepare some clean water, and add 1 tbsp of salt to it. The salt helps to kill germs. Mix the salt in. Put the broccoli in, floret side down. If there are any critters, they'll be hiding in the florets, so dunk the broccoli in, floret side down. Soak it like this for 2-3, even 5 minutes. Rinse it well. You'll clean off any debris and kill any small critters. This is how you wash broccoli. Now, we’ll let the broccoli soak for 3-5 minutes in the water. You usually want to wash first, then cut. Why? When you wash first, then cut, it won't be as wet when you're cooking it. Shirley from the Canto Cooking Club asked, "How do you pick the best quality broccoli from the store?" First of all, when you're buying broccoli, avoid the ones with really long stalks. You don't want to eat just broccoli stalk. This is a beautiful piece of broccoli. The buds have not spread too broadly, and the stalk here is not too long. Short here? Yes, it should be rather short here. Sometimes the stalks are this long. That means the broccoli is really mature. Also, make sure the buds are green, not yellow. If the broccoli is really stiff, it's old. If it's stiff? Is that good? What do you think, Cam? Is that a good broccoli? Better when it's cooked! After soaking the broccoli, we can cut it up. We don't need a big cleaver for broccoli. You can use smaller knives like this. Cut it like this. We’ll cut off the outer florets from the stem side. You might not even need a cutting board. Cut the florets at the stem. Here, we'll cut all the florets off. Just cut across to separate. You can snap these florets apart by hand. Now you can rip off each floret by hand. Don't cut into the buds. The florets will fall apart and buds will go everywhere, so cut at the stem, not through the buds. If you cut through the buds, the buds will go everywhere, which isn't appealing. If you want to learn how to cut twice as fast and prevent injuries, we have a free 6 minute video lesson for you. Click the link in our description or scan the QR code to access it for free! If you get a floret that's too big, just cut along the stem. Just don't cut into the buds. Cut it like this. Now, we’ll repeat those steps to cut up the florets of the other head of broccoli. Broccoli, or sai laan faa in Cantonese, has a reputation as a famous childhood villain, but it's not the kids’ fault! Children are super sensitive to taste, so the slightly bitter notes in cruciferous vegetables, which include broccoli, cauliflower, bok choy, and cabbage, are more pronounced for young eaters. To minimize the bitter sulfurous aromas, you should buy broccoli grown in season, in the cold months. Also, be sure to follow my dad’s techniques of blanching and stir-frying over high heat to get the best out of the broccoli’s texture and flavor. This stalk is edible. Just peel off some of the outer skin and slice it thinly. Lots of people enjoy eating the stalk. Peel the outside so it's not so tough. Slice thinly. This part is delicious. Set aside. We’ll do the same peeling and trimming on the other hard stem of the broccoli. This is Mommy's favorite. I love the stem. That's love. I know exactly what each of you likes to eat. You don't know what I like to eat. What? I know! They know. Now, we'll chop the garlic and ginger. It's Broccoli with Garlic, so let's use more garlic. Quick smash. First, we’ll smash and peel 4 cloves of garlic. Once it's smashed, you can peel it. After peeling it, trim off and discard the hard end. Then, we'll smash it into a paste. Then smash again before mincing. Then, chop finely. After mincing the garlic, we’ll move on to the ginger. Ginger. First, we’ll cut two slices of ginger, about 1/2 an oz. Then smash each slice with a cleaver, gather them together, and mince. What does smashing the ginger do? It releases more flavor when you cook it. Once these ingredients are prepared, we'll make the sauce. For the light stir-fry sauce, we’ll add 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of sugar, 1 tbsp of cooking wine, 1 tsp of chicken bouillon powder, 2 tsp of cornstarch, 2 tbsp of water, and 1 tsp of oyster sauce. Then mix to combine. We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com along with step-by-step instructions and video clips to guide you as you make the recipe at home. Once all the ingredients are prepared, we’ll need a wok or pot to first blanch the broccoli. Prepare a bowl of cold water for shocking. We'll transfer the broccoli over once it's done blanching. You can even add some ice to it. The colder this water is, the more green color we'll preserve. If you immediately stir-fry after blanching, you don't have to shock the broccoli. If it has to sit awhile, or it's for garnish, you should shock it, so it stays green and crisp. This is boiling water. We’ll pour boiling hot water into the wok. High heat. Then turn the heat to high. Make sure there's enough water to cover all the broccoli. When blanching, more water means the vegetables will cook faster, so they'll stay greener. We'll add 1 tbsp of salt. We'll add oil, too. 1 tsp of oil. The oil and salt help keep the broccoli green and crisp. Wait until the water is at a vigorous boil. If needed, cover the wok to bring the water to a rolling boil. Water's boiling, let's add the broccoli. We'll add the stalks first. Why? They're harder, so we'll add them first. Then, add the rest. After adding the stalks first, we’ll follow with the florets. Make sure they're in there nicely. The broccoli should be fully submerged in the boiling water. Then they can cook quickly. They need to cook fast so they don't turn yellow. If you're feeding elderly people or young kids, and they can't chew very hard foods, then cook it for an extra minute here. Here we’ll cover again to bring the water to a boil, which was about 3 minutes for us. See, it's back at a boil now. When it’s boiling again, we can take out the broccoli. Now, we'll transfer the broccoli to the ice bath. With a spider strainer, we’ll quickly transfer the broccoli directly to the ice bath. Turn the heat off and discard this water. We’ll pour out the hot water from the wok. Take the broccoli out from the ice bath. Now, we’ll transfer the broccoli from the ice bath to a colander or steamer basket like this to let the water drain. Isn't it beautifully green? At this point the broccoli is fully cooked, and you can have a taste test. If you eat it now, it's very crisp. The stems are very crisp. Now, we'll start stir-frying. Heat the wok on high, then lower the heat. Garlic tends to burn easily if it's too hot. When the wok is hot, we’ll add oil. Add 1 tbsp of oil. Turn to medium heat, then bloom the garlic. Then add the garlic. Bloom the garlic. After a quick stir, we’ll follow with the ginger. Ginger. After 20-30 seconds of stir-frying, we can add the star of the show. Next, we'll add the broccoli. It smells great. Now, turn the heat to high. With the heat back on high, we’ll add the broccoli and stir-fry continuously. Add a splash of wine. Along the edge. Then we’ll splash in about a tsp of cooking wine. Why the edge? The edge is hot, so we can get that sizzle when we pour the wine there to get the aroma of wine. All right. Now, we'll add the sauce while stirring. Now, we’ll add in some of the sauce we mixed earlier, a bit at a time, while mixing. Why didn't you use all the sauce? We'll add more later if we need it. Check how much liquid there is. How much liquid is in there now? Then we can add it all. We don’t want too much sauce here because we don’t want the dish to be soggy. After a minute or two of stir-frying with the sauce, we’ll add the finishing touch. Finally, we'll add some cooking oil. A tbsp of oil will give the broccoli a beautiful shine. We’ll give it a quick mix, then turn off the heat. Now, we'll plate it. We'll put the stalk pieces on the bottom. We want to show off the florets on top. And don’t forget to scoop every drop of the delicious sauce onto the broccoli. Friends, our Broccoli with Garlic is complete! I hope you all enjoy it! Hong Doy, Mui Mui, come and eat broccoli! I ate so many of those just now. It's so good! It's crunchy but it's not dry. Devin, yay!
