SWEET AND SOUR BEETS AND BROCCOLI
Fresh beet cubes, and broccoli buds swimming in a beautifully colored sweet-sour beet sauce flavored with ginger, soy sauce, garlic, tarragon and spice. Served with vinegar rice!
Makes 3-1/2 cups rice and 7 cups sauce
1 bunch fresh beets; cut off greens to use for other purpose, wash beets, cut off ends, peel, then cut into ½ inch cubes
14 oz. pkg. froz. broccoli cuts
Place beet cubes in large saucepan with water to cover by 2 inches. Boil till fork-tender. Strain beets over open container. Measure out 2-1/2 cups beet water for the sauce. Return 2 cups of it to saucepan. Set aside drained beets.
½ cup reserved beet juice
¼ c. cornstarch
Combine the other ½ cup beet juice and cornstarch in small cup and stir till dissolved. Set aside.
Make rice while the beets cook.
2 c. water
¼ c. white vinegar
1 t. sea salt
2 c. Jasmine rice
Combine water, vinegar and salt in saucepan, stir well. Bring to boil, add rice, stir well again, then cover tightly and cook exactly 15 minutes. Remove from heat and fluff with fork.
To the 2 cups beet water in the pan add:
½ c. white vinegar
½ c. white sugar
¼ c. lite soy sauce (Kikkoman’s is gluten-free)
1 t. powder sugar
1 t. cinnamon
¼ t. ground allspice
1 t. dried tarragon
1 t. sea salt
lots of freshly ground black pepper
Stir well, bring to boil over medium-high heat, then add cornstarch liquid, stirring continuously till thickened. Reduce heat to low and continue to cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes. Salt to taste.
Add broccoli cuts, stir and cook till just tender and still bright green.
Serve over vinegar rice.
Notes: This is a delicious, simple dish, one that you might not expect to like.
Taste the beet juice from the cooked beets before you make the sauce and see how delicious it is. Perfect for making a sweet-sour sauce using any vegetables you wish. Whenever you boil beets, save the liquid by freezing it, so when you want to make a sweet sour sauce you have a base from which to start, whether you put beets in it or not.
