Cheesy Beef Taco Rice

Ingredients

• 500g beef mince
• 500ml hot beef stock
• 300g long-grain rice, rinsed
• 1 red pepper, finely diced
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp mild chilli powder
• 160g sweetcorn, drained
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 4 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 150g mature Cheddar, grated
• Warm tortillas, to serve
• Soured cream, to serve
• Lime wedges, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve
• Guacamole, to serve
• Shredded iceberg lettuce, to serve
• Pickled jalapeños, to serve

Method

1. Heat a large, deep frying pan with a lid over medium-high heat and add a slick of oil. Season the beef mince generously with salt and pepper before it hits the pan — this is your one chance to season the meat itself.
2. Brown the mince in two batches, 4–5 minutes each, breaking it up into crisp little bits. All at once and the pan crowds, water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of browning it. You're after deep colour and stuck bits on the base — that's flavour.
3. Return all the mince to the pan, stir in the onion and red pepper with a pinch of salt and cook for 6 minutes until softened and glossy at the edges. Add the garlic and cook just until fragrant — 30 seconds, no more. Burnt garlic turns the whole dish bitter.
4. Add the cumin, smoked paprika, chilli powder and tomato puree and bloom in the oil for 60 seconds until fragrant and the puree darkens a shade. Raw spices taste dusty; bloomed spices taste of themselves.
5. Pour in the chopped tomatoes and hot beef stock, scraping up the brown bits from the base — the stock breaks the tomatoes down so they taste of summer fruit, not tin. Bring to a simmer, then stir in the rinsed rice and sweetcorn.
6. Cover, turn the heat to low and cook for 18 minutes without lifting the lid. Steam is doing the work — every peek costs you 2 minutes.
7. Check the rice is tender and most of the liquid is gone. If it's still firm, splash in a little hot water, cover and give it 3 minutes more. Taste, season, taste again — adjust the salt now, not at the table.
8. Scatter the grated Cheddar over the top in a thick, even blanket. Cover again and leave off the heat for 3 minutes until the cheese melts into a golden lid.
9. Fluff the edges lightly with a fork and scatter the spring onions across the top. Bring the pan straight to the table and top each bowl with a spoon of guacamole, a handful of shredded iceberg, a few pickled jalapeños, a scatter of coriander and a squeeze of lime over the lot — the acid lifts everything you've just built.