One day, Deniz and I had some extra broccoli and decided to make the classic Chinese-American beef with broccoli dish. We vegetarian-ized a recipe from Wei-Chuan’s Chinese Cooking cookbook and were happy with the results. We’ve continued to modify it to further enhance it. Here’s our latest and favorite version.
Ingredients:
- 6 oz Morningstar vegetarian Grilers Original burgers
- 2 heads of broccoli, florrets only
- 1 red pepper, cut in 1 inch strips
- 4 oz can of water chestnuts, drained and sliced (optional)
- 2 T vegetable oil
Spices:
- 1/2 bunch of green onions, sliced
- 1/2 red onion, sliced (optional)
- 6 slices of ginger root (optional)
Sauce:
- 1 T rice wine
- 2 T soy sauce
- 2 T vegetarian oyster sauce
- 1/2 t MSG
- 1½ t sugar
- 1/2 t white pepper
- 1/2 t sesame oil
- 2 c vegetarian broth (we prefer to use broth made with dried Chienese mushroom seasoning)
- 1½ T corn starch
- 1 T deep fried dried garlic
Instructions:
Prepare the ingredients as described in the above Ingredients list. Place the Spices ingredients in a small bowl, and the Sauce ingredients in a large bowl.
Toast the patties for 15 minutes at 350ºF. After they cool, pulse them in a food processor to a large chunky ground beef consistency.
Place the broccoli florets in a large saucepan with stems facing down. Place the sliced red pepper on top of the broccoli. Add 1/8 c of water to the pan. Cover the pan, and cook on high heat. After 5 minutes, turn the heat off and leave the pan on the stove covered for 5 more minutes. Drain any remaining liquid from the pan, and set the vegetables aside.
Heat 2 T of vegetable oil on high heat in the large saucepan. Stirfy the Spices for 1 minute. Add the ground vegbeef and continue to stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the drained vegetables and water chestnuts. Add 1 more T of vegetable oil and stir to combine. Add the Sauce and continue cooking and stirring until it is thickened. Remove the ginger root slices before serving.