Spring Roll Bowl
I bloody love a spring roll, but those little grease sticks aren’t exactly health food. I mean they start off alright, with their innards a mix of meat and veggies, then it goes downhill with a wrapping made of flour and cornstarch, then plonked in a vat of bubbling vegetable oil. Phew, that escalated quickly. And while we’re here, who got to name this awful shite “vegetable oil” when it contains not a single vegetable? I mean talk about misleading. That crap is as toxic as some of my ex-boyfriends. And you want to know where they ended up? In. The. Bin. Exactly where this liquid of evil needs to be. Anyway, as I said, I bloody love a spring roll, so i decided to take the good part i.e.. the veggies and meat, and make it into a big ol‘ bowl of yum. Easy peasy mid-week meal
- 500g pork mince (chicken or turkey mince is also fine)
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Thumb of ginger, grated
- 3 green onions, sliced (green part reserved for garnish)
- 8 shitake mushrooms, sliced
- 2 large carrots, julienned or shredded
- 1 red capsicum, sliced thin
- 1 Chinese cabbage, shredded
- 10 water chestnuts, sliced (tinned ones are fine)
- 4 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sriracha/chilli sauce
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Sprinkle of sesame seeds to garnish
Mix the coconut aminos, sesame oil, sriracha and rice vinegar together and set aside.
Heat some coconut oil in a large pan over medium heat.
Add the garlic, ginger and white part of the onions and sauté (be careful not to burn garlic). Add in the mushrooms and capsicum and stir fry to soften.
Add the mince and fry off, breaking it up as you go.
Add in carrots and mix through.
Pour in sauce and mix through.
Add the shredded cabbage. It will seem like a lot and look like it won’t mix through, but it will. It cooks down super quick.
Once the cabbage is incorporated, mix in the water chestnuts to heat them through.
Serve hot, sprinkled with sesame seeds, green part of onion and topped with a soft boiled egg if you please.Serves 2-4
NOTE – I use a V-slicer with the julienne attachment for the carrots, or the shredder attachment on your food processor would be good. I like these more than a grater as they keep the carrots pieces a good texture without squeezing out too much liquid like grating (grated carrots will break down more in the cooking), but if you only have a grater, that’s cool. There’s worse things that can happen in life. The cabbage just needs to be sliced through thinly with a knife, no special equipment required. You could also try coleslaw mix if you wanted. No water chestnuts? Sprinkle on some roughly chopped cashews for a little texture.