This recipe is an all time Blickenstaff favorite. I never was good at making it, mostly because I never paid attention to what my mom was doing. She made it all the time, she could probably have made it with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. My mom always made hers with flank steak, which gives is a little more umph, but then you gotta buy flank steak and cut it up. When I was at my aunt's house the other week, she made the ground beef version. Super fast and easy. I always have ground beef on hand, so this time I paid attention. It was so simple! Now, she did skip a couple steps that my mom probably would freak out at if she knew, but hey it was worth the time crunch!
However much lean ground beef you feel like using, anywhere from a half pound to a full pound. You can also sub in ground turkey or pork or chicken.
I put it in a bowl and drizzle soy sauce over the top (a few tablespoons) and about a teaspoon or two of sesame oil, then use a fork to break it up and get the soy sauce all mixed around. Try to do this up to an hour before you get ready to cook. The longer the meat marinates the better it tastes.
When you are ready to cook, heat about a teaspoon of vegetable oil in a pan and then crumble your meat and cook it up. Remove from pan along with the gravy. Then toss in your cleaned, trimmed green beans ( I cut them into about 1.5 inch pieces). After about 2 minutes, pour in some water, anywhere from 1/4-1/2 cup and cover with the lid so they can steam and soften. You don't want to cover them, just so you can see water all on the bottom of the pan. When the water has evaporated and the beans are tender, take the lid off and (optional) add finely chopped garlic and/or ginger (this will make it spicier for the kids. After a couple times I decided I liked ginger but not garlic). Salt your beans and let them crisp up a bit, meanwhile take the gravy from your meat (should only be a couple tablespoons or so) and in a little bowl, make a slurry with about a teaspoon (or less) of cornstarch. Toss the meat back in the pan and drizzle the slurry over top. Cook for about 30 seconds til the sauce thickens and done! Serve over rice.
If you want to make this with flank steak, just make sure to cut your meat on the bias, and make it nice and thin. Same directions! Now my mother would NEVER cook her beans in the same pot as the meat, she would blanch them first and then throw them in at the end. This allows for a crispier bean, but in the end it doesn't make much of a difference and it saves a pot! So we just won't tell her...
Most often she made it with broccoli, and sometimes she mixed it up with sugar snap or snow peas. And sometimes carrots even got thrown in there for a bit more crunch and color! For the peas, omit the steaming, they soften much quicker. For broccoli I would blanch in a separate pot.
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