Sesame Beef and Broccoli at Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California by Ruth Paget
When I lived in downtown Chicago (Illinois) after I graduated from the University of Chicago, I ate sesame beef with broccoli at Chinese restaurants like Szechuan House and House of Hunan and felt like an empress doing so while working at my entry-level job in sales.
Later when I lived in Wisconsin, I bought a wok at a garage sale and restored it. I made broccoli beef myself to cook my own empress meals.
In my new town of Salinas, California, I tried sesame beef and broccoli at one of our local Vietnamese restaurants, Saigon Noodles, located on North Main Street by Grocery Outlet.
The Vietnamese stir-fry shallots in peanut oil and add in the beef with soy sauce and oyster sauce. The hot beef is finished with drizzles of sesame oil and sprigs of cilantro. The beef sauce is thick but not cloudy from the addition of cornstarch.
Many Chinese restaurants add cornstarch to stir-fry dishes at the end of cooking to add a glistening sheen to meat and vegetables. I think cornstarch “slurries” add calories and dull flavors a bit.
Fortunately, the stir-fry beef sauce at Saigon Noodles is savory, salty, and clear of cornstarch. I dipped my rice and steamed broccoli that came with my meal in the sauce and loved the rich flavor.
Saigon Noodles also offers this dish with chicken.
For a regal treat, I highly recommend the sesame beef with steamed broccoli and rice from Saigon Noodles in Salinas, California.
By Ruth Paget, Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
