Korean Beef

There is something about October for me that’s tough to get through.  Cooking-wise.  Don’t get me wrong, I love everything about October- gorgeous fall colors, sweater weather, all that.  But after the hustle and bustle of trying to deal with all the produce in September… well, I’m tired.  This year, I canned, froze, and dried my little heart out.  The only thing left on my food preservation to-do list is make up a batch of my favorite herb rub.  Hopefully I’ll get to that one later today.  Maybe. Maybe not.

After all that work making sure nothing was wasted from this summer’s bounty, I’m feeling kind of bounty-ed out.  I’m craving, fast, easy, starchy, stick to your ribs dinners that won’t have standing over a bubbling pot. (I’d had enough of that on about the 3rd round of canning.) This easy peasy, but oh-so-satisfying Korean Beef fits the bill.   I’ll warn you right now this isn’t fancy food.   It’s comfort food, with a little extra kick.  It’s perfect if you’re in the mood for take-out Chinese food (just say, “no”, and back away from the menu, people) but don’t want to get that inevitable Chinese take-out hangover.  And of course, one of those essential elements of fast, easy comfort food- there are no special ingredients to run out for.  You most likely already have everything you need.

This Korean Beef is actually kind of a cheater recipe, because it is made with ground beef instead of strips of steak, but I actually kind of love it this way.  Each little nugget of perfectly browned and crisped ground beef is coated and caramelized in a sweet, salty, and spicy sauce. Every bite has the perfect ratio of sauce to beef, and the flavor is incredible. For being so simple, it’s amazing how tasty this stuff is.  A mound of this sticky, chile-flecked stuff piled on top of some steaming basmati rice, sprinkled with some fresh, sharp green onion slivers,  is all the comfort food you could ever want.

Korean Beef

slightly adapted from lizzy writes

1 pound lean ground beef

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 Tablespoon sesame oil

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh ginger, minced

1 teaspoon crushed red peppers

salt and pepper

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and brown hamburger. Add the garlic and sesame oil and garlic in the sesame oil and cook for another minute or so, until you can smell the garlic. Add brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, salt and pepper and red peppers. Simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Serve over steamed rice and top with green onions.