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Cooking adventures in a small, closet sized, kitchen. - I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.

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20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef

[heart_this] · Jun 10, 2021 · Leave a Comment

20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef

A quick and easy Vietnamese style beef dish with a sweet, spicy, salty and sour caramelized sauce!

Caramel is an ingredient in Vietnamese cuisine and it’s often used in savoury dishes like this one. It usually starts out with a palm or coconut sugar which is cooked until it caramelizes, turning a deep brown/amber, a little darker than caramel sauce for topping ice cream, before the other ingredients are added to the pan. The caramel provides the sweet aspect of the dish with fish sauce providing the salty, chilies the spicy, and lime juice or tamarind the sour. This is a super simple use of this magical flavour combination, in a ground beef dish that can easily be served over steamed rice with plenty of fresh herbs, cucumbers and optionally some Vietnamese pickled carrots and/or radish.

20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef

20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef

20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef
20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef

20 Minute Vietnamese Caramel Beef

Prep Time: 5 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes Servings: 4

A quick and easy Vietnamese style beef dish with a sweet, spicy, salty and sour caramelized sauce!

ingredients
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 4 tablespoons palm sugar (or brown sugar)
  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 shallot, finely diced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, grated/minced
  • 1 tablespoon galangal (or ginger), grated
  • 1 bird’s eye chili, thinly sliced
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 1 lime, zest and juice
  • 1 tablespoon cilantro, chopped (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon basil, chopped (optional)
  • 1 tablespoon mint, chopped (optional)
directions
  1. Melt the sugar into the water in a large pan over medium heat, bring to a boil and let it cook until it turns a nice caramelized brown/amber colour, about 2-3 minutes.
  2. Add beef and shallot and cook, breaking the beef apart as it cooks, about 10 minutes.
  3. Add the garlic, galangal, chili, fish sauce, lime zest and juice, mix and cook until fragrant, about a minute.
  4. Mix in the fresh herbs and enjoy!
Tip: Steaming rice while making the beef to serve it with!
Option: Use palm sugar, or coconut sugar, or brown sugar, or white sugar.
Option: Ground pork works really well as a substitute for beef.
Option: Use a small onion instead of a shallot.
Option: Instead of the bird’s eye chili, use another chili or 1 tablespoon of chili sauce such as sriracha.
Option: If you want more sauce, add some coconut milk!
Nutrition Facts: Calories 346, Fat 22g (Saturated 8g, Trans 1g), Cholesterol 80mg, Sodium 787mg, Carbs 14g (Fiber 1g, Sugars 10g), Protein 20g

Nutrition by: Nutritional facts powered by Edamam
Similar Recipes:
20 Minute Thai Basil Beef
20 Minute Korean Beef
20 Minute Mongolian Ground Beef
Kongnamul Bap (Korean Beef Beansprout Rice Bowl)
Gyudon (Japanese Beef Rice Bowl)
Vietnamese Style Spicy Caramel Chicken Wings
Vietnamese Caramel Salmon Banh Mi
Banh Mi Burgers
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20 Minute Meals, 30 Minute Meals, Beef, Food, Gluten-free, Low-carb, Main Course, Recipe, Vietnamese

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About Me

Kevin: I came to realize that my meals were boring and that I had been eating the same few dishes over and over again for years. It was time for a change! I now spend my free time searching for, creating and trying tasty new recipes in my closet sized kitchen.
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