Asian-Flavoured Beef with Rice
sandravalvassori.com
A quick recipe that is super tasty and the whole family will love. Serve with quick pickled carrots and cucumbers for a more complete meal. Rice instructions, if needed, are included in the recipe notes.
Servings: 4 to 6
Ingredients
- 2 pounds lean or extra lean ground beef
- 1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tablespoons mirin or rice wine, or rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 Tablespoons sugar or honey I use coconut sugar
- 1 Tablespoon sriracha, or more to taste
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil I use avocado oil
- 4 cloves garlic, grated or finely minced
- 2 Tablespoons fresh ginger, grated or finely minced
- 1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly, light and dark parts kept separate
- 4 cups cooked Jasmine, or white rice, to serve see notes for cooking instructuons, if needed
- 2 Tablespoons black or white sesame seeds optional
Optional quick pickled carrots and cucumbers:
- 1/4 cup rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sugar I use coconut sugar
- 2-3 medium carrots, julienned or grated
- half english cucumber, julienned or sliced into thin rounds
Instructions
- INSTRUCTIONS
- In a small bowl, stir together the soy sauce, mirin, sesame oil, sugar, and sriracha. Set aside.
- At this point, if using, make the pickled carrots and cucumbers: In a medium bowl, mix the vinegar and sugar. Toss in the carrots and let sit for about 15 minutes. Just before serving, add the cucumbers to the carrot bowl.
- Heat the oil in a large skillet or sauté pan over medium-high heat. Brown the beef, stirring frequently and breaking into pieces, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain most of the excess fat, if desired.
- Add the garlic, ginger, and light green scallions. Cook, stirring frequently, About 2-3 minutes.
- Add the soy-sauce mixture and cook until the beef is well-coated and cooked through, about 1-2 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary by adding more sriracha, soy sauce, sugar, or vinegar to taste.
- Top the beef with the remaining dark-green scallions. Serve the beef over white jasmine rice. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the beef and serve with pickled carrots and cucumbers, if using.
Notes
Variations and substitutes for the sauce:
Mirin is a type of rice wine, similar to sake, that is used to flavour many Asian dishes. Mirin has a sweet flavour which works well with salty ingredients like soy sauce. If you don't have mirin, simply replace it with any rice wine or vinegar and add an additional 1 teaspoon of sugar to the sauce.
This sauce can also be made with 4 tablespoons of good-quality hoisin sauce in which case omit the mirin and reduce the soy sauce to 2 tablespoons.
To make Jasmine rice:
Bring 2 cups water, 1½ cups rice and ½ teaspoon kosher salt to a gentle boil, then reduce to very low, cover and cook for 18 minutes. Let sit covered, off heat, for 5 minutes then fluff with a fork.