MONDAY RECIPE POST - MONGOLIAN BEEF WITH RAMEN NOODLES

My first photo is of two deer on the 17 mile drive, Pebble Beach in California.  My sister-in-law has said I can share any photos she sends, which I appreciate very much. I send my thanks as it is a real pretty photo.  I believe it was taken yesterday (Friday the 10th).  I am writing this on Saturday the 11th).

Now to this recipe found at Jo Cooks.  Thank you so much Jo, she has also very kindly said I could post it on my blog.  The original recipe can be found here.

There used to be a great Mongolian Barbecue restaurant we visited about once a month.  It was in one of the local shopping malls, a fast food type of a barbecue but it was excellent.  It reminded us of a restaurant in California, where we first tried this excellent dish..  

As we get older we have more chats about the 'old days', part of which are fond memories of our time spent in California.  This was in the early days of our marriage.  We spent many years in the state, living in three areas; first San Diego, then up to Long Beach, back to San Diego, up to Monterey, and finally back to San Diego.  We were living in SD when Gregg retired from the navy.  Shortly afterwards we came back to Virginia, and have been here ever since.

Anyhow, Gregg was lamenting the fact that our fast-food Mongolian Barbecue place had closed (going back a couple of years), and how much he enjoyed their food.  I do what I usually do, searched online for a recipe.

I surprised him today.  We both stepped into the kitchen to prepare.  I am happy to say that we both enjoyed this delicious dish.  

Mongolian Beef with Ramen Noodles

Serves 4

Calories per serving approximately 941 (quite high but if you eat light for the rest of the day, doable on the calorie counting)

(This is a copycat recipe from P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef with Green Peppers and Ramen Noodles).

1-1/2 lb. flank steak (I had a two thirds left of a large rib-eye steak in the fridge and decided to use that)

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips (I used a red bell pepper as we prefer it to the green)

8 oz. dry Ramen Noodles 

3 green onions, chopped or thinly sliced

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons sesame oil

3/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

2/3 cup brown sugar

1-1/4 cup chicken broth

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (I might try adding 1/2 teaspoon next time to make it a little hotter)

Slice the steak into small, thin pieces, against the grain.

In a large Ziploc bag add the cornstarch and the beef.  Close the Ziploc bag and shake really well until each piece is coated well with the cornstarch.

In a nonstick skillet heat the oil.  When the oil is hot, add beef and cook until browned.  It may take two or three batches because you don't want to the steak pieces to stick to each other.  Also, if you need more oil after each batch, add a little more if you want to.  

Remove the beef from the skillet to a plate and empty the oil from the skillet.

Add bell pepper to the skillet and saute for a couple of minutes, just until it gets soft.  Remove the pepper from the skillet onto a plate and set aside.

In that same skillet add the sauce ingredients; the sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, chicken broth and red pepper flakes.  Stir and cook over medium heat until the sauce thickens a bit and reduces by a quarter.  This may take up to 10 minutes.  You don't want to reduce it too much because you need more sauce for the noodles.

In the meantime cook the Ramen Noodles according to package directions.  I ended up adding an extra packet of noodles as suggested.  There were leftovers for another meal the next day.

(These are the noodles I used.  You throw away the flavoring packets that come with it, that aren't that good for you anyhow.  Also you can buy noodles that come baked and not fried as these are.  I didn't have time to go to our Asian grocery store, so used what was available at our local supermarket.)

Return the beef and bell pepper to the skillet and pour the sauce over all.  Add the cooked Ramen Noodles and fold them into the other ingredients.  

Top with the green onions and serve.  We used slices of avocado and thinly sliced radishes for garnish.  They were a nice addition.

My photos don't do the dish justice but you can go to Jo's blog to see hers.   We will definitely be making this again.

It was mentioned that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can varies greatly based on products used.

Thanks again Jo.  This is a link to her blog and I am also repeating the link to the original dish.