Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Heat 2 Tablespoons oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high. Add ground beef in an even layer, season with S&P, and cook, without touching, until browned, 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add darkbrown sugar, gochujang, tomato paste, and the onion, garlic and ginger. Cook, breaking up the meat, until the meat is cooked through, and the onions are tender, 2 to 3 minutes.
- Add water and soy sauce, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until thickened and flavorful, 20 to 25 minutes. (Keeps for 4 days in the fridge and also freezes well.)
- Now pick a starch and cook it simply. Boil udon, ramyun or ramen, rigatoni, rice or farro. Toast a slice of bread or potato buns. Bae a sweet or russet potato. (Also good with tofu, like mapo tofu.) When the gravy's good, season to taste with S&P and ladle it into or onto your starch.
- To counter the rich sauce, add hearty greens (mustard greens, Swiss chard) with the water in step 2. Or eat with vinegared cucumbers, kimchi, or radishes.
- If your sauce has a lot of fat on top, skim it off with a spoon.
Notes
I want to share one of the best cooking tips I was ever given with you today. Not only will it make preparing this dish easier, but it’ll make dealing with any ginger-centric dishes easier, too. When you get your fresh ginger root home from the grocery store, break it into 6-inch pieces, wrap them tightly, put them in a zipper top freezer bag, and freeze until solid. Any time you need fresh ginger, simply remove one piece of ginger and grate as much as you need for the recipe before re-wrapping and returning the rest of the chunk of ginger to the freezer. No need to peel or anything and your dish will be full of delicious ginger flavor with no stringy or tough pieces. This will change the way you work with ginger forever.