You already know how much I love Chinese and Korean flavours when I cook. I probably eat something in those cuisines at least once a week. This korean beef bowl is one of my faves. The original recipe is from Damn Delicious (recipe link) and it is so tasty. I have made the recipe as is many times with just the ground beef, sauce and rice, but other times, I like to add my own spin. Today, I went with the latter and have written out my recipe below.

There is nothing wrong with the original recipe but it’s always nice to add some veggies whenever possible to a meal. Here, I have used onion, carrot and zucchini which give some colour and texture. It is very versatile though, and you can use the vegetables you have on hand (ie: broccoli, cabbage, bell pepper, mushrooms). I also used veggie ground round instead of real ground beef which is a nice vegetarian substitute. One more change is to sometimes serve it on noodles/pasta as opposed to rice.

And as for the sauce, I’ve played around with the ratio of brown sugar to soy sauce, I like it a touch sweeter than the original recipe. I also upped the amount of sesame oil to give a little more richness. Last thing was adding freshly minced ginger for an extra bite – I love fresh ginger so much.

Sauce:

• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp water
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1/2 tsp chili flakes
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Remaining Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 1 pack yves ground round
• Cooked pasta or rice, for serving

Directions:

1. In measuring cup or bowl, combine all ingredients for sauce. Set aside until later.
2. Heat olive oil (medium heat) in large pot or frying pan. Add onion and carrot, and cook 3 minutes until beginning to soften. Add zucchini and cook 2-3 minutes more.
3. Crumble in veggie ground round and mix with all vegetables until heated through. Stir in sauce and it all simmer for 2 minutes until bubbly and slightly thickened.
4. Serve over cooked pasta or rice. Store any leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.