Dinner Last Night: Korean Beef Rice Bowls

One of my favorite quick and easy recipes is Korean Beef and Rice from Six Sisters. This is a simple, quick recipe made from ingredients I almost always already have on hand. In fact, the only item that I had to actually add to my shopping list this week was the ground beef! I do change up a few ingredients though. Here's my version:

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic, pressed (or minced)
• 1 cup (dry) jasmine rice
• 1½ cup any broth
• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• green onions, diced

Steps

1. Begin by pressing (or mincing if you don't have a garlic press) your garlic. To get the best health benefits, always let your garlic sit for a few minutes after mincing it to give the alliin and alliinase time to combine and form allicin before applying heat. Set pressed garlic aside.
2. Bring broth to boil in a medium saucepan. I used some leftover beef broth from earlier in the week, but have used chicken or veggie broth and it comes out just as well. This will give your rice some flavor and keep it from clumping.
3. Once broth is boiling, stir in rice and cover. Reduce heat to simmer and allow to cook for 15 minutes.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until runny. The original recipe calls for sesame oil, which I suppose would be more authentic, but I tend to use what I have on hand. Usually olive oil.
5. Brown beef and garlic.
6. Drain the fat (if any) and add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, and red peppers. Again, the original recipe calls for salt and pepper in this step, but I actually liked this better the time I forgot to add them, so now I never bother. There is plenty of flavor with the sweetness of the brown sugar, the saltiness of the soy sauce, and the bite of the red pepper.
7. Mix well and simmer for a few minutes to blend the flavors.
8. Serve over rice and top with plenty of fresh chopped green onions.