Spicy Chinese Ground Buffalo and Broccoli Stir Fry

Buffalo is widely available these days and is high in protein and lean. It is a great muscle building food. Although I’ve never run into American Buffalo in China, they do eat a fair amount of water buffalo in various areas. In any case, I adapted this recipe from a higher fat and very high carb noodle dish.

Ingredients are simple. Mix the following in a bowl:

• 1 pound ground buffalo (widely available in many US markets, even in the near sticks where I live)
• 2 tablespoons of cornstarch or arrowroot – a thickening agent. Cornstarch is easy to find in any supermarket.
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce. Use low salt soy sauce if you prefer.
• 2 Tablespoons chili sauce, whatever kind you like. I buy mine from the Chinese grocery, but any kind is fine. Hot bean paste in another option here.
• 2 tablespoons chopped garlic – you can buy it yourself, or buy it prechopped in jars at the market. It’s better chopped fresh but the prechopped is good too.
• ½ teaspoon salt (optional).

Hint: I usually find it easiest to mix by hand, Wash your hands and roll up your sleeves!

You can adjust the amount of chili sauce based on your tastes, but do know that buffalo meat absorbs chili sauce well, making it less hot than you might expect.

Other ingredients are:

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil – any kind is fine, and I usually use soybean.
• 4 cups broccoli florets – you can either buy whole heads of broccoli and cut them up (cheaper) or buy precut florets (the flower part of the broccoli as opposed to the stalk).
• 6 tablespoons, plus or minus, of scallions chopped into short lengths. Scallions are also known as green onions.

First we want to wash and then boil the broccoli. Boil for only one minute, then remove from heat and let stay in the hot water for 2 minutes before pouring the hot water out. A strainer if you have one works well.

Next, in a wok or large pan, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil and once hot, add the buffalo meat mixture. Stir as it cooks for about 4-5 minutes until pretty much cooked. You can tell as its consistency changes and an extra minute+ either way is absolutely fine here.

Add the broccoli, and mix while cooking until all mixed together.

Take off of the heat and add scallions. Stir and serve immediately!

This goes very well with rice (unless you are restricting carbohydrates of course).

Of course you can also use other types of meats for this recipe. I’ve used ground turkey, beef, and others. Ground lamb was tasty, but lamb ha a bit too much fat and made this dish fairly fatty.

Ground buffalo, turkey, or beef are your best bets but feel free to experiment.

This is tough to eat entirely with chopsticks without rice, as the bottom will have a slightly watery consistence.