I fell in love with a garlic and ginger beef dish from a local Thai restaurant.
This is my attempt at making something that can pass for when I am craving garlic, ginger beef.
Garlic Ginger Beef with Onion and Bell Pepper
An almost-soy-free recipe for garlic ginger beef. Authentic? Probably not. Tasty? Definitely.
Prep Time30 minutes mins
Cook Time30 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Keyword: Beef, Garlic, Ginger, Low-Carb
Servings: 2 servings
- 1 tbsp sesame oil You can substitute any preferred oil for sauteing. I like avocado.
- 1 lb Beef Flank Steak Cut flank into 1/8" to 1/4" thick strips across the grain, then cut the strips into 1" pieces (bite-sized)
Flavor Infusers
- 1 tbsp Minced Garlic About 2-4 cloves. To taste (I like a lot of garlic)
- 1 tbsp Minced Ginger Root Peeled and minced fresh ginger root. I start with about 1-1.5" length of 1" diameter root. I like a lot of ginger. You can skip this or substitute ginger powder, but it won't be the same. If you sub powder, add it to the spices.
- 1 chili One hot pepper - your choice Minced. You can add dried flakes or cut up a dried pepper if that's what you have on hand. This is completely optional.
Dry Spices and Seasonings
- 1 tsp ground Cumin to taste (You can add or subtract based on your preferences)
- 3/4 tsp chili powder Again, to taste. anywhere from 1/2tsp to 1 tsp.
- 1/2 tsp smoked Paprika to taste. If you don't have smoked, try cutting back to 1/4 tsp and add more if you like it.
- 3/4 tsp kosher salt again, this is to taste. I find that it really brings out hte flavors, but we are also adding bouilion cubes so keep that in mind.
- 2 Cubes Beef Bouilion Dissolve in about 1/3 cup of water. I microwave it to get it up to temp and make sure the cubes are disolved. You can substitute any broth or stock altsernatives, but you don't need a lot of liquid so the flavor-to-liquid ratio needs to be high or you might need to add more seasoning (salt and spices)
Vegetables!
- 1 Onion Your preference on yellow, white or sweet I like the yellow ones. Cut into strips
- 1 Sweet Pepper Green, Yellow, Orange or Red Cored, seeded and cut into strips. It doesn't matter the color, but if you are going to add broccoli I suggest not using green unless you LOVE them.
- 1 cup Broccoli Floretts Or more. Fresh or Frozen. If you use frozen ones, you'll need to boil off more liquid at the end, but it's fine.
Prepare the spices, infusions and vegetables, once cooking this can go fast.
Heat oil in large skillet to medium heat or medium-high heat
Toss in the garlic, ginger root and hot pepper. Cook for 30 seconds to a minute. The ginger might turn golden, but don't let it burn.
Turn heat down to medium or medium-low and add the dry spices: cumin, chili powder, paprika and salt. Cook for 20 to 30 seconds
quickly add the beef and start browning
Dissolve the bouillion in water(If you haven't already). I typically re-use the pinch dish I used for my ginger, garlic and pepper.
Once the beef has cooked... some. (Mostly not pink) Add the onion and bell pepper. Cook for 10-15 min medium to medium-high heat. Stirring. Basically we want that onion to start looking clear.
Add the bouilon water. (or stock or broth). And add the broccoli. Cover and let steam till the broccoli turns bright green (if it's fresh). or thaws and becomes warm (if it's frozen).
Once the broccoli is bright (or thawed). Remove the lid and boil off the remaining liquid, stirring as needed. I like to get the liquid down to something that would be easily soaked up with rice or riced cauliflower. But I like to leave a little liquid.
Serve over rice or riced cauliflower.
I have been eating this over riced cauliflower that I buy frozen and then heat with a little butter and salt.
Depending on the amount of food and/or calories you want to consume, this could serve 2 or 3.
Also, note that the amount of beef has never been measured. So, if you want more, add more. If you want less, add less.
In all honestly, I rarely measure much. I use a half teaspoon measuring spoon to "measure" my seasonings, but I really only make sure I have at least half a teaspoon of cumin, chili powder and salt. Everything else is ... how I feel that day.