1 pound boneless beef chuck roast, sliced into thin slices*
1 cup low sodium beef broth
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon molasses
1 tablespoon sesame oil
3 garlic cloves minced
1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1 head of fresh broccoli, broken into large florets
2 tablespoons cornstarch
In the crock of your slow cooker place beef broth, soy sauce, brown sugar, molasses, sesame oil, garlic, and ginger, and whisk together until thoroughly blended. Place your thin strips of beef on top of the liquid, and give it a stir so that the beef is well coated. Set the crockpot to low and cook for 4-1/2 to 5 hours. At the five-hour point remove 1/4 cup of the juice to a small bowl, and whisk in the cornstarch. Return this mixture to the meat mixture and stir to combine. At this point you can dump in all of your broccoli, pressing it down with the back of a fork or spoon in an attempt to submerge it. Cook for 30 more minutes, during which time you can prepare the rice (Or put your feet up and have a glass of wine, your choice.). When the 30 minutes are up you can dig in. You'll thank me later.
*I decided to make this for dinner this morning, and my chuck roast was frozen. It was a 2-pound chuck roast, and I decided I was only going to use 1 pound, so I put in the microwave on defrost, let it defrost for a little bit (probably about four minutes on the defrost setting), cut it in half, put the other half back in the freezer, and then used a very sharp knife to cut the remaining half into thin strips. I find that when cutting beef into thin strips, no matter what cut of beef it is, that it helps to have it partially frozen. You can really control the size and shape of the strips that way, and it slices easily, and beautifully.