AI-generated image, for illustration only.
Korean-Style Beef Bowl
with Garlic Rice & Charred Veg
A weeknight rice bowl built around glossy, ginger-and-oyster-sauce beef — garlicky rice underneath, a quick char on the carrot and beans, and a spoon of sesame mayo to pull it all together.
Ingredients (for 2)
Pantry basics not counted above: olive oil for cooking, and a pinch of salt for the rice water.
Method
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Cook the garlic rice
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat with a splash of oil, then soften half the garlic for a minute or two. Tip in the rice, the water and a good pinch of salt. Once it's boiling, put the lid on, drop the heat right down, and let it simmer for 7–8 minutes — much longer than that and it tends to catch on the bottom. Turn the heat off completely and leave the lid on; it'll finish steaming itself tender over the next 10 minutes without any help from you.
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Prep while the rice cooks
Cut the carrot into matchsticks and trim the green beans (or break broccoli into small florets — whichever's in the fridge works fine). Get a dry frying pan hot and toast the sesame seeds for 3–4 minutes, shaking the pan now and then so they colour evenly instead of catching. Tip the toasted seeds into the mayonnaise and stir — that's your sesame mayo done.
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Char the veg
Same pan, oil, heat back up to medium-high. Toss in the carrot and beans and let them cook down for 5–6 minutes until they've lost their rawness and picked up a bit of colour. Throw in the rest of the garlic for the last minute, season, then tip everything out onto a plate.
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Cook the beef
Crank the same pan up to high with another splash of oil. Brown the mince for 2–3 minutes, breaking it apart as you go (swapped to steak strips? Sear those 5–6 minutes instead). Add the ginger paste and let it cook through for a minute, then pour in the oyster sauce and brown sugar. Keep everything moving until it's glossy and bubbling, about a minute more.
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Build the bowls
Spoon the rice into bowls, pile the beef and charred veg on top, and finish with a good dollop of sesame mayo on the side.