Honey and Five-Spice Beef with Broccolino

I used half the amount of five-spice powder and meat, pork instead of beef, and broccoli instead of broccolino. The dish smelled strongly of anise so be careful if you don’t like that, but in the end you couldn’t taste it as much as you could smell it. You'll have to like the dish's sweetly taste as well - I was surprised at how sweet it was, the sweetness seemed to be intensified by the spices.

I liked the fact that it had more sauce than most stir-fries do, but as far as my meagre cooking knowledge goes, you shouldn't use as much liquid in a stir-fry “ in any case, it would rather be cooking instead of frying. The meat ended up being slightly dry, something I blame on the fact that we were supposed to add the sauce, the completely raw broccoli/broccolino and the meat and stir-fry (cook) until the veggies were tender. This took at least 5 minutes, which is far too long for the meat. The sauce was already reduced at that point, but still too liquid for frying.

Rather, I’d add the veggies one step earlier while you’re reducing the sauce (doesn't really matter if the veggies are cooked or stir-fried), and add the meat at the last minute for brief reheating. That way you should end up with tender meat, cooked veggies and a sufficient amount of sauce.