Citrus Broccoli Stir-Fry with Brown Sauce

The best thing to happen to stir fry in this house is a good brown sauce and orange zest.  Yum! 

Citrus Broccoli Stir-Fry Rating 10

Ingredients;
1 small onion cut into bite size chunks
1 yellow bell pepper cut into bite size chunks
2 carrots diced
3 broccoli crowns roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
zest from half an orange

Feel free to add or remove vegetables as desired, there is nothing that can't go into a stir fry.

For the sauce;
3/4 cup of your favorite stock (we use vegetable stock that Keri makes)
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp cornstarch

Mix about 1/4 cup of your stock with the cornstarch and set aside.  Mix the remaining ingredients together in a small pot on medium-low heat

While the sauce is warming up, add about 1 tbsp oil (we used grape seed, you want an oil with a high smoke point) to your cooking vessel of choice ( I recommend a Wok for this, they are awesome and are relatively inexpensive <$20.00 at Ikea).  Cooking on a wok can go quickly so you need to constantly be watching it.

Now comes the time when knowing how long it takes to cook vegetables really helps since we want them all to be the same doneness.  So once your wok is warmed up add the carrots and cook for about 1 minute before adding in the peppers and onions, continue to cook and additional 2 minutes and add the garlic and ginger.

Once the sauce has come to a simmer add the reserved stock/cornstarch mixture and stir in to avoid any clumping. 

Add the broccoli to the stir fry and cook until the broccoli turns bright green in color, add the sauce and coat everything together.  Add the orange zest and stir again and remove from heat.  Serve immediately.

We served it with the Asian Quinoa we love so much.  Upon making the quinoa Keri discovered the fresh ginger had become, well, less than fresh so she substituted a scant 1/2 tsp. of ginger powder and it turned out equally well.

Additionally I like my food spicier than everyone else, so I always add red chili sauce or General Tso's sauce.