Meat & Potatoes (with a twist)

Talking to my friend N yesterday, I realized (yet again), how busy our lives are when she described her daily routine that involves work, raising a family, fitting in a long commute as well as after school activities for the kids. It emphasised the importance of having easy to prepare meals. So, I looked in my refrigerator, and the ground beef I had thawing for chili suddenly took on a new life. I wanted to make something simple, easy and nutritious that could be eaten either on its own or with rice, pasta, tortilla or even pita. 
This evening, on our facebook page I said "Got 5 ingredients, make a meal", please humour me, because I lumped onions, garlic and ginger and spices as one ingredient.
This is super simple, and adding a legume of your choice would make this a fibre rich dish. If you have time on the weekend, you can cut up onions and sweet potatoes and put them in a container, reduce prep work and finish this in about a half hour.  The ingredients are frozen peas, sweet potatoes, ground beef, onions/ginger/garlic, tomato sauce, cumin powder, chili flakes and salt. See, almost right on the ingredient count.......

Skill Level: Easy
Serves : 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb lean ground beef (can be made with pork, chicken or turkey)
• 1 can tomato sauce (398ml)
• 2 cups of frozen green peas
• 1 large sweet potato diced
• 2 medium onions chopped
• 1/2 inch piece of ginger chopped
• 6 cloves garlic chopped
• 1 Tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 tsp red chili flakes (optional)
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 1/2 tsp allspice powder
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp salt 
• 2 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves (optional)
• 3 cups boiling water (to boil sweet potatoes)

METHOD: 

1. Add oil to a frying pan and saute onions, ginger and garlic until onions are browned. Add frozen peas and stir until soft. 

2. Add the tomato sauce and mix well. Remove and set aside

3. In the same pan brown the beef until the meat in no longer pink, drain off any excess fat and add back the onion tomato mixture and stir well. Add cumin, turmeric, allspice, chili flakes and salt

4. Put water to a pot and allow to boil, add the diced sweet potatoes and cook until soft, drain and add to the meat 

5. Check and adjust seasoning as needed. Stir in coriander (if using). If it is too thick, add 1/2 cup of water to thin it out. Serve with pita or rice