Ginger-Garlic ground beef

I really enjoy a big bowl of savory meat with plain rice and this is an extremely easy one you can make at home. I started with a Korean recipe, halved the sugar and shoyu and added veggies to make it a meal. Fresh chilis would be better but sambel is just so easy and effective – add more to make it actually spicy, this recipe is probably ok for kids. I do love bonchon I just don’t keep much in the kitchen and it is a lot of prep and very expensive to buy, which defeats the purpose of getting full on cheap pickles. Anyhoo…

Ingredients
1 lb or so ground beef
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Lots of minced garlic, like 4 cloves
Solid knob of ginger – like two tablespoons minced
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon Sambel Oelek
1 1/2 diced onion
1/2 diced red pepper
1/2 diced green pepper
3 carrots large-diced

Instructions
Heat the sesame oil, garlic and ginger, add the ground beef and dice the veg. Drain the meat and set-aside, then add the veggies to the pan, de-glaze and lightly caramelize a couple times.

Mix the soy sauce, brown sugar, sambel and add a splash of water, bring up to temp with the veggies. Add the meat back to the pan and coat with the mixture, crank the heat and stir rapidly until the dish comes together – like 90 seconds – you just want the meat to reabsorb the juice and for the flavors to evenly distribute.

A wok is ideal for this type of cooking, but a small stockpot will do – the high walls minimize oil splatter and the wide bottom provide lots of surface area to simmer-out the water.

Serve with rice and sides of kimchee or other pickled veggies if you have them in the kitchen. I like to top with a soft egg (sous vide 167 for 12 minutes) a dash of togarashi, drizzle of chili oil and use contrasting color sesame seeds for a little visual appeal. If I had green onions on hand I’d’ve put those on top too, little crunchy zing.