Asian Beef & Rice Bowl with Vegetables

The Japanese have their Donburi, the Koreans have their Bibimbap, and the Hawaiian Poke is popping up in every cafe's menu in town.  Bowl food has become a culinary trend, and increasingly associated with healthy eating.  A complete meal in itself, you get to decide what ingredients you'd like to include, the size of the portions, and how you want it to look.  Very individual, versatile and dare I say, empowering.  In this example, I've followed general nutrition guidelines to have some protein in form of beef mince, some carbohydrates in form of rice and some vegetables in form of sweet corn, lettuces and tomatoes.  The mince beef is cooked deliciously with onion, garlic and sauces from the Asian pantry.   You can have different combinations of cooked and raw vegetables.  For cooked vegetables, I suggest carrots, pumpkin, beans, peas, edamame, broccoli, etc.  For raw vegetables, you can have slices of cucumber, spouts or pickles.  Whatever you do, make it colourful and cheerful.

Serves 2

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup white or brown rice
• 1 cup cooked corn kernels
• 1 tomato, cut into wedges
• a handful of lettuce leaves, shredded
• 250g / 9oz beef mince
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
• 1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoon finely chopped spring onions

For marinating the beef:

• 2 teaspoons Chinese Shaoxin wine
• 1 teaspoon cornflour
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 garlic, finely chopped

METHOD

1. Cook rice.  Click here to see instructions for cooking long grain white rice.
2. In a medium-size bowl, add the beef mince and the marinating ingredients.  Mix well.
3. Heat oil in a wok or a large frying pan on medium-high until hot.  Add onions and sauté until soften and lightly brown, about 1-2 minutes.
4. Add the beef and spread them out in the wok or frying pan with a spatula.  Stir fry for a few minutes until cook through.  Add oyster sauce, dark soy sauce and sesame oil.  Mix well.  Add half the chopped spring onions and mix again.
5. To assemble, place 1 or 2 scoops of cooked rice in the bowl.  Top with the mince beef and garnish with the remaining spring onions.  Arrange the sweet corn, tomato wedges and lettuce leaves next to each other.