Beef and Cabbage Rice Skillet
Ground beef browned hard, then simmered with onion, cabbage and tomato sauce over rice until everything turns tender and savory. A hearty one-pan dinner that soaks up every bit of sauce.
- Total
- 60 min
- Prep 15 · Cook 40 · Rest 5
- Serves
- 1
- Difficulty
- Easy
You'll practice: Searing · Absorption rice
- Savory
- Comforting
- Stovetop
- Oven
Instructions
-
Finely chop the onion. Core the cabbage and slice it into 1 cm strips. Measure the rice, tomato sauce and water so they are ready to go.
~10 min
-
Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef in one even layer and cook without stirring for 4 minutes to build a brown crust, then break it up and cook 3 more minutes until no pink remains. Season with 0.5 tsp salt and the black pepper.
~4 min
Searing the beef undisturbed creates a brown crust via the Maillard reaction, deepening flavor before the meat is broken up.
Let the beef sit untouched for the first few minutes in the pan: that crust is where most of the flavor in this dish comes from.
Searing Leave the beef untouched in a hot pan until a deep brown crust forms; moving it too early steams the meat and loses that flavor.
-
Push the beef to the edges of the pan. Add the onion to the center and cook 6 minutes, stirring, until soft and lightly golden.
~6 min
Pushing the beef aside lets the onion hit the hot pan directly, so it softens and browns instead of steaming.
-
Add the cabbage and the remaining 1 tsp salt. Stir to combine and cook 6 minutes until the cabbage wilts and loses its raw crunch.
~6 min
Salting the cabbage draws out its moisture, helping it wilt faster and season the whole dish from within.
-
Stir in the rice, tomato sauce and 600 ml water. Bring to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook on low 18 minutes without stirring. The rice should be tender and the liquid mostly absorbed.
~18 min
Covering traps steam so the rice absorbs the tomato liquid evenly and cooks through without scorching.
If the rice is still firm when the liquid is gone, add 3 tbsp hot water, cover, and steam 5 more minutes off the heat.
Absorption rice Keep the pan covered on low and resist stirring; the rice should absorb all the liquid and turn tender without turning sticky.
-
Take the pan off the heat and let it stand covered 5 minutes so the rice finishes steaming. Fluff with a fork, taste, and adjust salt before serving.
~5 min
Off-heat resting lets residual steam finish the rice and firm it up so it fluffs instead of turning gluey.