Broccoli Floret, Ground Beef and Soybean Sprout Salad with a Sesame Lemon Dressing

I was sick the other day, probably due to over training so i became too lazy to do anything really. As i scavenged around the apartment for food, i didn’t find much making me think extra hard (when sick, everything becomes extra hard) about what i could prepare with the ingredients i had in the fridge. I thought about when i was a child and what i was fed when stuck in bed, feverish and cold; some arroz caldo maybe (almost like a chinese congee for our foreign friends with spring onions, crispy garlic, a bite of ginger and chopped chicken), a clear chicken and noodle soup, some ice cream (i grew up in a cool household) or some sort of typical Filipino vegetable in soy sauce and garlic, staples in this country. I found some lonely Togue- mung bean sprouts (the crispy and fresh kind, not the welted ones supermarkets try to sell you) and told them that they would look great in a salad, i just had to find them some company (yes i talk to my vegetables when i have a fever). I used basic ingredients, to make a dish that made me feel better, even if it was just for a fleeting moment. I love food.

Broccoli Floret and Soybean Sprout Salad with a Sesame Lemon Dressing

Boil for 4 minutes in salted water mini broccoli florets (tear up a whole broccoli in small stems), with as much soybeans as you want, then transfer them into an ice water bath to stop the cooking.

Fry off 3 shallots, 1 small baby leek and 2 garlic cloves. Once coloured add in 200grams of ground beef with some chilli flakes, 1 tbsp of soy sauce (or amino brags for the healthier version) until caramelized.

Drain all the veg and toss with a tsp of sesame oil, salt, pepper, rind of 1/2 lemon, the juice of 1/2 lemon and the cooked beef.

Put in a bowl, get under your covers and watch your favorite movie.