Korean Crispy Beef Rice Bowls

Ingredients

• 500 g beef mince
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 3 cloves garlic, finely grated
• 15 g fresh ginger, finely grated
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 x 250g pre-cooked jasmine rice pouches
• 3 spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 2 eggs, fried, optional
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Whisk the soy sauce, gochujang and honey together in a small bowl until smooth. This is your glaze — set it within arm's reach of the hob, because once the beef is in the pan things move quickly.
2. Season the beef mince generously with salt and pepper. Heat the vegetable oil in a wide stainless or cast-iron pan over high heat until it shimmers and just starts to wisp. Add the mince in a single even layer and don't touch it for 2–3 minutes — you want the underside deeply crispy and almost mahogany. If your pan looks crowded, do it in two batches; all at once and water comes out, and you've boiled the meat instead of crisping it.
3. Break the mince apart and toss for another 2 minutes so you get crispy edges throughout rather than evenly browned mince. Drop the heat to medium.
4. Add the grated garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds — just until fragrant and pale gold. Don't let the garlic burn or the whole bowl turns bitter.
5. Pour the glaze straight into the hot pan and let it bubble fiercely for 20–30 seconds, swirling the pan so it lifts the sticky brown bits off the base and turns into a glossy lacquer that coats every strand of beef. Take off the heat and stir through the sesame oil. Taste — most of the salt comes from the soy, but a final pinch of salt and a crack of pepper ties it together.
6. Heat the rice pouches according to the packet. If you're frying the eggs, get a separate nonstick pan hot with a little oil and fry until the whites are crisp and lacy at the edges and the yolks still wobble when you nudge the pan — that runny yolk is the sauce for the rice.
7. Divide the rice between four bowls. Pile the crispy gochujang beef on top, slide on a fried egg if using, and finish with the sliced spring onions, toasted sesame seeds and a pinch of chilli flakes scattered over the lot.