Savory Oatmeal with Ground Beef and Vegetables Stir-Fry

Savory Cheesy Oatmeal served with Ground Beef Stir-fry

One of my friends at work started talking about this recipe he discovered for oatmeal. It is a savory recipe that calls for adding cheese the oatmeal as it cooks. As he spoke about the recipe, I realized that I really wanted to try it out something similar. I am a big fan of oatmeal. The first time I heard about savory oatmeal was years back when Cameron Diaz caused a splash by mentioning her secret way of eating oatmeal. Now that it was back of my radar, my taste bud just won't let go of the idea. I knew that along with the oatmeal, I wanted some crunch to balance the creamy texture. I immediately knew I wanted a stir-fry.


So now I was thinking oats and stir-fry. In the process of planning the meal, I decided on a ground beef stir-fry with Asian condiments. There is a dish that I always get as the Thai fast food place called Gra Pao. I usually get a Chicken Gra Pao, which is basically chicken ground meat stir-fried with vegetables serves over a dense white rice that soaks up all the juicy flavors of the stir-fry sauce.

This recipe really is an ode to eating simple good food. There so are many easy ways of making food that create so much variety when you play with texture and flavor. Note that with the recipe below, I cooked the stir-fry first then the oatmeal. The oatmeal cooks really quickly and sets really quickly, almost like a polenta. For the best eating experience, you want to tuck into the oatmeal which it is still hot and creamy so time your meal well.

Savory Cheesy Oatmeal With Ground Beef Stir-fry

Ingredients (serves 2)
1 Cup of Quick Cooking Oatmeal
8oz. of Lean Ground Beef
1 Large Green Pepper
1 Jalapeño Pepper
6oz. of Snow Peas
1/4 Large Onion
1 Large Garlic Clove
2Tbsp of Oyster Sauce
1/2Tsp of Fish Sauce
1Tsp of Soy Sauce
2Tbsp of Grated Parmesan Cheese
2 Tbsp of Peanut Oil

Instructions
1. Slice the vegetables finely to about roughly the same size. Also combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce together. Season the ground beef with a touch of salt and some black pepper

All Sliced Up

2.In a large pan or wok, heat up about 1tbsp of oil to just smoking point. Add in the ground beef into the pan and move around quickly. When the ground beef is cooked, transfer to a plate.
3. In the same pan used to cook ground beef, heat up the leftover oil to smoking point. Add in the all the vegetables at once. Keep vegetables moving about in the pan. After a couple of minutes, add in the oyster sauce mix.
4. When vegetables start to look bright and cooked, add in the cooked ground beef. Cooked for an extra couple of minutes until beef is well combined in the pan. Turn off heat.
5. In a small saucepan, add in the oatmeal and 2 cups of water on medium heat. You want the oatmeal to just simmer on the heat.
6. When the water is mostly absorbed and oatmeal is looking cooked, add in the cheese and a touch of salt. Whisk the oatmeal vigorously. You want it to become creamy. When the water is fully absorbed and the oats looking creamy but not dry, take off the heat.
7. Serve oatmeal and stir-fry immediately.