It’s not a stir fry. The cooking process consists of boiling, sauteeing and braising. The boiling takes all of two minutes, the sauteeing and making the sauce take another two minutes, and then it takes a final minute to toss everything together until heated through.
If you had counted the minutes from the previous paragraph, you’d have arrived at a cooking time of five minutes. That’s correct. Five minutes.
But prep time is twice as long. Well, unless you can get pre-cut broccoli florets and pre-sliced shiitake. Of not, a total of 15 minutes for prepping and cooking is not pretty bad considering how delicious this meatless side dish is.
To cut down on cooking time, do two things before you prep all the ingredients:
- Set a pot of water to boil and
- Half fill a large bowl with cold water then dump in plenty of ice
Now, prep the ingredients. By the time your broccoli had been cut into florets and your shiitake had been sliced, the water should be boiling.
Pour about four cups of boiling water into a wok, add two pinches of salt and a drizzle of sesame seed oil. Drop in the broccoli florets, stir and allow to boil for a minute. Scoop out and dump into the bowl of icy water. Leave to cool.
To the remaining water in the pan, add the shiitake slices, stir and boil for a minute. Scoop out and drop into the icy water with the broccoli. Leave for half a minute then scoop out the shiitake and broccoli florets and spread on a rack (a kitchen towel will do too) to allow excess water to drip off.
Next, the sauce. Save the water in which the broccoli and mushrooms were parboiled. Rinse your wok and wipe dry. Smash plenty of garlic (I used a total of eight cloves) and slice an onion. Saute them together just until starting to soften. Then, mix all the ingredients for the sauce, stir in starch and pour the mixture over the garlic and onion. Stir and wait for the liquid to heat up and boil.
As the sauce cooks, it will lose its cloudy appearance and turn clear. It will thicken too. Once thickened, lower the heat and continue cooking the sauce for another minute. That’s to cook down the alcohol in the mirin, and to cook the starch sufficiently so that it doesn’t leave a powdery sensation on the tongue.
Then, you just add your parboiled broccoli florets and shiitake slices. To make sure the flavor balance is perfect, give the sauce a taste and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 shiitake caps only
- ½ head broccoli
- 8 cloves garlic
- 1 onion
- salt
- 1 teaspoon sesame seed oil divided
- 1 tablespoon cooking oil
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons mirin
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ cup vegetable broth (the water in which you cooked your broccoli and shiitake)
- 1 heaping teaspoon potato starch or cornstarch
- chili flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Slice the shiitake caps.
- Cut the broccoli into small florets.
- Peel and pound the garlic cloves.
- Peel and thinly slice the onion.
- Boil four cups of water in a wok with two pinches of salt and half a teaspoon of sesame seed oil.
- Drop in the broccoli florets, stir and boil for a minute. Scoop out and dump into a bowl of icy water.
- In the remaining water, boil the shiitake slices for a minute. Scoop out and add to the broccoli in the icy water.
- Drain the broccoli and shiitake and spread on a rack or a kitchen towel.
- Rinse and wipe the wok, pour in the cooking oil and heat.
- Saute the garlic and onion just until softened.
- Mix together the soy sauce, mirin, black pepper, vegetable broth, remaining sesame seed oil and starch.
- Pour the mixed sauce over the garlic and onion, stir and leave to boil.
- Lower the heat, stir once more, and cook for a minute.
- Add the shiitake and broccoli. Toss until heated through.
- Taste, adjust the seasonings, if needed.
- Optionally, sprinkle with chili flakes before serving.
