Beef Teriyaki Bowl with Tenderstem Broccoli

Ingredients

• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tsp cornflour
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp mirin
• 600 g beef sirloin or rump steak, thinly sliced across the grain
• 300 g tenderstem broccoli
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 300 g cooked jasmine rice
• 3 spring onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Whisk the soy, mirin, honey, garlic, ginger and cornflour in a small bowl until the cornflour fully dissolves and the sauce looks glossy. The garlic and ginger go in raw here — they'll cook out in the pan in seconds, so watch them when the sauce hits the heat. Burnt garlic turns the whole thing bitter.
2. Tip half the sauce over the sliced beef, season generously with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Leave for 5 minutes while you get everything else ready — wok screaming hot, rice warm, bowls lined up. Stir-fries cook faster than you can fetch a spoon.
3. Bring a pan of water to the boil and salt it well — it should taste like the sea. Blanch the tenderstem for 2 minutes, until just tender with proper bite. Drain, then toss straight away with the sesame oil and a pinch of salt while it's still steaming so the oil clings.
4. Heat the vegetable oil in a large wok over the highest heat until it shimmers and the first wisp of smoke rises. Lay the beef out in a single layer — cook in two batches, don't crowd the pan. All at once and the wok temperature crashes, water floods out, and you've boiled the beef instead of searing it. Leave undisturbed for 1 minute for a proper crust, flip, 30 seconds more, then lift onto a plate to rest.
5. Pour the remaining teriyaki into the hot wok and let it bubble and tighten for 30–45 seconds — fragrant in the first 30 seconds as the garlic and ginger cook through, pale gold lifting to mahogany, glossy enough to coat the back of a spoon. Don't let it catch. Return the beef and any resting juices, swirling so every slice gets lacquered in the pan sauce. Taste — most of the salt comes from the soy, but a final pinch of salt ties it all together.
6. Divide the jasmine rice between four bowls. Pile the teriyaki beef on top, lean the sesame tenderstem alongside, and finish with a generous scatter of toasted sesame seeds and sliced spring onions over each bowl.