Vietnamese Beef and Crispy Rice Bowl

I must be late to the “bowl craze”. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, foodies and the general population at large have become obsessed with eating food in bowls: burrito bowls, Buddha bowls, poke bowls. Everywhere you turn these days, there are bowls on the menu and filling our feed on Instagram. I recently listened to a podcast by America’s Test Kitchen that conspiracy-theorized that the government was encouraging bowl foods so that we would become lemmings that ate whatever bowl was handed to us. That soon all of our food would taste the same. I digress.

Despite the Chipolte craze that everyone else in society discovered a decade ago, I have somehow missed the entire bowl phenomenon until very recently. Apparently I need to seek out more American Mexican quasi-fast food cuisine. Well I have decided to rectify this cultural deficiency by immersing myself wholeheartedly.

The greatness in the bowl is that it is perfectly tailored for ‘make your own’; designed for picky-eaters both young and old. So you can have all of the deliciousness, and your children who declare suddenly that they do not like carrots after eating them only last week, can skip that part. It is also great when your husband declares that he is back on the Keto bandwagon, and can we please avoid all carbs. He can leave the rice out of his bowl.

This particular recipe is also a quick, healthy, week-night meal. The perfect recipe when you have given no thought to dinner and many hungry eyes are staring at you.

Note: If you do not have a wok, you can easily use a large (8-10″) non-stick skillet. However, instead of stir frying, leave the rice in the hot oil undisturbed for 2-3 minutes, stir and repeat. Similarly, leave the beef in the hot oil, undisturbed for approximately 3 minutes, or until brown, flip and repeat.

Vietnamese Beef and Crispy Rice Bowl

Adapted from Half Baked Harvest

Serves 4-6, Total time: 30 minutes

1 1/2 pound beef steak or tenderloin, cut into 1 inch cubes
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp Oyster sauce
2 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups cooked white rice (I used Jasmine)
1 cup shredded radicchio or purple cabbage
2 medium carrots, cut into ribbons with a “Y” peeler
2 Persian or 1/2 English cucumber, sliced
2 green onions, chopped
1 lime, cut into wedges
1/4 cup fresh basil, mint or cilantro, roughly chopped
1/4 cup chopped peanuts

Season the steak with salt and pepper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oyster sauce, honey, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Add the beef and toss to coat.

Heat a wok over high heat. Once hot, add a few Tbsp of oil, and swirl in the wok. Heat until the oil begins to shimmer. [* See note above for using a skillet]. Add the rice and stir fry until the rice begins to turn golden brown and slightly charred in parts, about 3-5 minutes. Remove the rice from the wok.

Heat the wok again and add the remaining oil. Heat the oil until it begins to shimmer. Remove the steak from the bowl, reserving the remaining sauce, and stir fry until the internal temperature reaches 115 F, approximately 3-4 minutes. Pour in the remaining sauce and 3 Tbsp of water, bring to a boil and cook until the sauce thickens and begins to coat the steak, about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.

Divide the rice among bowls and top with the cabbage, carrots and cucumbers. Spoon the beef and sauce over top. Top the dish with a squeeze of lime, green onions, herbs and peanuts.