Crock pot Chinese Beef and Broccoli

One of the hardest things about living in Poland is the lack of Chinese food.

Let me rephrase that - One of the hardest things about living in Poland is the lack of good American Chinese food.

You know the type I'm talking about - you order it from your neighborhood Chinese restaurant in mass proportions. It's greasy and delicious and full of MSG but you don't care, because it just hurts SO good. You eat your yearly calorie allotment with just one egg roll because its covered in sweet and sour sauce.

Yeah, THAT kind of chinese food.

                           (As long as it is cheap, fast, and covered in soy sauce no questions shall be asked.)


We don't have that here. What we do have is some kind of weird hybrid between polish and Asian that just doesn't bode well. They have something here called calabash which is a pickled turnip of sort and they put it in almost every Asian dish they can find. It is vile. This is not to be confused with an actual Calabash which is a melon type of plant found in more tropical locations (and their gourds were used as water containers) which I am sure is much more lovely.

To be fair, I'm not even sure if its called Calabash. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Anyway, we don't have good Chinese food here. Which KILLED me, because back home 250% of my daily calories were donated to this type of culinary cuisine.

But have no fear! Pinterest ALWAYS has an answer to what woes you.

With that I give you my first SoCo Deep (it's my street name) approved recipe:

Food.com's 

Crock Pot Beef and Broccoli 

(credit:Ebonyloveandmarriage.net)

Ingredients:
1 lb boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin strips
1 cup beef consomme (I can't find that here, so I just used beef broth)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon sesame oil (Didn't realize I didn't have this. I just used vegetable oil and it turned out great)
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 bunches fresh broccoli florets (I used frozen - takes a little longer to cook in the end, but easy and tasty!)

Directions:
1. Place beef in a crock pot.
2. In a small bowl, combine consomme, soy sauce, brown sugar, oil, and garlic. Pour over beef. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.
3. In a cup, stir cornstarch and 2 tablespoons sauce from the crock pot until smooth. Add to crock pot. Stir well to combine.
4. Add broccoli to the crock pot. Stir to combine.
5. Cover and cook an additional 30 minutes on high (the sauce has to boil for it to thicken).
6. Serve over hot cooked rice.