Growing up in a Chinese family, you can expect to see a lot of Chinese recipes on this blog. This particular dish is a favorite in many Cantonese restaurants. It’s not gourmet by any standard but it is extremely satisfying and easy to prepare at home. You can omit the rice entirely or substitute with your favorite cauliflower rice recipe.
I wanted to note a few things about this Paleo version. The first is the use of fresh green peas. This is entirely optional so if peas are not part of your Paleo lifestyle, feel free to omit altogether. For those interested in finding out more about the place of peas in the Paleo diet, there is this great article on Mark’s Daily Apple I encourage you to read. Personally, my body is able to handle the occasional serving of peas so we use them maybe once a month in a dish.
This dish also uses a raw egg at the end to finish (the “watan” part). If you choose to eat raw egg, be careful to choose pastured eggs and wash the shell thoroughly before you crack and use the egg. If the idea of raw egg intimidates you, you have the option of cooking the egg a bit in a pan before placing it on the beef in the end.
We start with some quality grass fed ground beef that needs to be marinated in the spices and tapioca flour for at least 30 minutes.
Chop up your onions and mushrooms while you wait.
When you are ready to cook, heat up some coconut oil or olive oil and saute the onions, mushrooms and garlic until the onions are translucent.
Add the beef and cook until it is almost done.
If you are using the peas, add them at this point and continue cooking until everything is done. If you notice there is a bit of sauce in the pan, you can add tapioca flour to thicken it.
Dish the beef into a bowl and crack a raw pastured egg (after thoroughly washing the shell) onto the beef. The heat from the food should cook the egg. If you do not wish to use raw egg, you may cook the egg first on a pan before placing on the beef.
You’ll need:
- 2 lb grass-fed ground beef
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 lb mushrooms, diced
- 1 cup fresh green peas (optional)
- 2 TBSP olive oil or coconut oil
- some pastured eggs
- 1 TBSP tapioca flour (plus more for the pan to thicken)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 6 TBSP coconut aminos
- 2 TBSP sesame seed oil
- 2 TBSP cooking wine like sherry
- Salt and pepper to taste
- In a large bowl, marinate beef in the tapioca flour, baking soda, coconut aminos, sesame seed oil, wine, salt, pepper and leave for at least 30 minutes.
- Heat up the oil in a large pan and saute onions, garlic and mushrooms until onions are translucent
- Add beef to the pan and saute until cooked. If using peas, add this in the last few minutes of cooking
- If there is too much sauce in the pan, stir in some tapioca flour to thicken
- Place a serving of the beef in a bowl and crack a raw egg on top. If you prefer your egg to be cooked, you may fry the egg in a separate pan first before placing in the bowl
Nom nom away!
