An accidental creation, I often cook mince in different ways depending on my mood or the ingredients I have on hand (mind you, always with a glass of wine IN hand). When putting this dish together I realised half way through I was using the exact method as Chinese fried rice! This is where the egg, sprouts and spring onion inspiration came from and I must say it came together like a restaurant quality dish, with a wonderful balance of textures and smokey, spicy, salty flavours. Seriously, you don’t even need the damn rice!

Please feel free to tweak to your preferences and don’t forget to send me a pic of your dish or post and tag me on Instagram @iwantallthethings.co. I love seeing different versions.

Oh, and make sure you of course serve with a cold glass of Clare Valley Riesling, Pinot Gris or a frosty clean beer. For the red wine drinkers a Pinot Noir or lighter Italian/French style red would work too.

Ingredients (serves 4 entrees or 2 hungry people)

Protein

• 500 grams of quality beef mince (can also use pork)
• 2 x eggs (whisked together in a cup)

Vegetables (skip any based on preference)

• 1 x red onion (diced)
• 1 x red capsicum (diced)
• 1 x small can of corn (drained)
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 3/4 cup of frozen peas
• Spring onion (sliced)
• 1 lime (juice of)
• Bunch of coriander (or flat leaf parsley)
• Fresh bean sprouts
• Pre bought crispy noodles (optional, dry Asian section)

Spices & Oils

• Cumin/Chinese Five Spice/Turmeric/Chilli flakes (or at least one of these spice + chilli flakes)
• Cooking oil (Olive/Canola or Sunflower will do)
• Fish sauce (preference/not required)
• Soy Sauce (only if a salt freak)

 

Method

Step 1. Cook Veg

In a deep pan or wok fry off the diced red onion in glug of oil and garlic until soft then add capsicum and cook until also tender (spread approx 10 mins). Next add corn and frozen peas and cook through for another 5 mins to combine, season to taste with salt and pepper. Once veg is just cooked (not soggy) remove from pan and place into a bowl lined with foil, make sure there is enough foil to close off the top to keep warm.

Step 2. Mince

In the same pan add a little fresh oil and fry off the beef mince on a high heat. At this point it is important to break the mince up well into small even bits and get some colour on it for texture and flavour. Once mince is browned time to season! Put half to a full teaspoon of each spice (cumin, five spice and turmeric) and mix through. Now taste, you might want to double it at this stage (I did!) but it comes down to preference on how spice laden you like it. Once happy with the flavour of the mince add chilli flakes to your preference of heat (personally, I would put at least one teaspoon).

Step 3: Egg & Combine

Once your mince is done mix your veg back into the pan and combine. As per the picture below, move meat and veg to one side of the pan, pour in a little oil (let it heat) then pour in your scrambled egg. When the side of the egg starts to lift begin to swirl and cook like you would scrambled eggs. Once the eggs are just cooked, throw in a handful of spring onions and combine everything together using soft folds to ensure you don’t loose texture.

Step 4: Final Season & Plate Up

To finalise and season pop a decent handful of beans sprouts on top, squeeze over the juice of one lime, few dashes of fish sauce (or sesame oil/olive oil depending what you like), pinch of salt and dose of cracked pepper. Do a final combine to wilt the sprouts then taste (if it needs more chilli add more, or if it’s not salty enough add a splash of soy).

To serve plate up in a pile and top with fresh coriander and crispy noodles, if you want to really impress serve with a wedge of lime and extra chilli on the side.