Thai Beef with Basil

(from The Clothes Make the Girl)

I made another version with chicken

The basic ingredients:

• steamed green beans
• 1 lb. extra-lean ground beef
• a handful of fresh basil leaves
• 1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
• a lime
• coconut aminos

 Get cooking:

1. Heat some fat in a pan over medium-high. I like coconut oil.

2. Sprinkle ground beef with salt and pepper, then brown in the pan.

3. When the meat is browned, add green beans, basil leaves, and the crushed garlic (If you don't have fresh garlic, use garlic powder or leave it out).

4. When everything is cooked the way you like it, add a few splashes of coconut aminos and stir-fry another minute.

5. Pile on a plate and squeeze the lime juice over the top.

You can earn bonus points by garnishing with a few curls of carrot (scrape a carrot with a veg peeler) or a sprinkling of finely-chopped scallions.

Now... make it fancy:

• To make it spicy: Add some chili-garlic paste.
• To add more veg: Toss slices of Japanese eggplant into the stir-fry step.
• To make it sweeter: Replace green beans with snow peas or snap peas.
• To make it souper: Throw it in a bowl and add beef broth and chopped fresh scallions.
• To make it seem exotic: Cut a hard-boiled egg in half and use as garnish on the plate. (Also delicious dropped into the soup version.)
• To incorporate more healthy fats: Sprinkle the top with crushed nuts or add more coconut oil to the stir-fry step.
• To make it fusion: Skip the nuts and add fat with slices of fresh avocado.
• To make it a complete meal: Add fruit for dessert. Strawberries, raspberries, and pineapple are a great complement.

My Thoughts:  OMG, this has to be one of my newest favorite dishes.  It really is so easy and fast to make and it is really, really tasty.  Even the leftovers are awesome (especially since the lime juice has had a chance to seep in really good).  To make it Whole30, I substituted sliced zucchini for the green beans in the basic ingredients.  I also added chilies to give it a kick.  This literally took me 10 minutes max to prepare and cook.  Another awesome recipe from Melissa Joulwan.  I need to figure out some sides to work with this dish.


Edited 5/8/2012 - Over the summer we made this almost once week with chicken.  Just as delicious as the beef version.