Published May 1, 2007. From Cook's Illustrated.
To achieve the chewy texture and spicy tang of a traditional Sichuan broccoli recipe, but without the mess of deep-frying, we stir-fried the broccoli longer than usual, so they became charred in places, giving them the deep, caramelized flavor we wanted. To create the right sauce for our Sichuan broccoli recipe, we combined dry mustard, dry sherry, a little sugar, ground white pepper, chopped scallions, and a drizzle of sesame oil, then added simple ground pork, which worked fine as a replacement for the shredded bits of Chinese barbecued pork often added at restaurants.
To make this dish vegetarian, substitute 4 ounces of shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and minced, for the pork. If using
mushrooms, you will need to add a teaspoon of oil to the pan in step 3 before adding the mushrooms. The cooking of
this dish goes very quickly, so be sure to have all of the ingredients prepped before you start. If your broccoli stalks are
especially thick, split them in half lengthwise before slicing. Serve with steamed white rice. This recipe is a variation of
our Stir-Fried Sichuan Green Beans, (see related recipe).
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