I'm always interested in trying a spin on a familiar taste profile that is a little less expensive to make. Six years ago, Bess made an absolutely awesome Mongolian Beef that used boneless Chuck Roast. It was made in the slow cooker, and it was wonderful. We asked to put it on a repeating cycle while she and Sam lived here. Back then, boneless chuck roasts were an inexpensive meat to have on hand. Nowadays though it's pricey as can be. In fact, I am seeing more of the English cut or Arm roasts on sale than Chuck Roasts and those are still rather pricey for my taste.
In the meantime, I was interested when I saw a video of Mandy from Mandy in the Making preparing a version of Mongolian Beef that used ground meat. She made a couple of suggestions about serving and it sounded interesting, so we tried it. It was a little lackluster in my opinion.
But I couldn't quite let go of the idea. I knew that one of her suggestions I hadn't followed and that was to double the sauce ingredients. Then I came across another blogger's recipe which also sounded good. I decided to try it again and this time add the touches I'd felt were missing the first time around. Only I couldn't find the second blogger's recipe when I went to look for it. So, I grabbed another recipe from a Bing search that came from the website, 12tomatoes.com. I tweaked a few things based on what I had on hand, then I added all the toppings I'd felt were missing before.
The result was terrific. It was so good that dibs got called right away on the leftovers a few days later when we were doing a clear out the fridge night.
I used thin whole wheat spaghetti noodles because it's what I had on hand. I think the broader flatter noodle really would work best with this recipe to give the sauce more surface to cling to.
I used raw grated carrot, fresh lime wedges, chili garlic sauce, green and pickled onions on our bowls of noodles. That was what I had on hand. I think you could pickle shredded carrots or have sliced fresh radishes and that would be very nice on top as well. I know that John would love this dish with slices of fresh cucumber surrounding the plate.
I served with steamed broccoli but thought after that if I could manage a crisp tender broccoli, it would be good, tossed right in with the sauce and noodles. Cooked diced baby bella mushrooms in with the beef would be a nice way to extend the meat if you had additional company.
I think this would make a great rice bowl as well.
Mongolian Beef Noodles
8 ounces Fettuccini noodles
1 pound ground beef
4 cloves of garlic, minced (or 4 tsps. of minced garlic)
1/4-inch slice ginger root, grated
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsps. honey
1.5 tsps. sesame oil
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 c. loosely packed brown sugar
1/4 c. Hoisin sauce, I often don't have this and leave it out
1/4 c. Beef Broth
2 tbsps. cornstarch
1/4 cup water
For garnishing: raw grated carrot
Pickled red onion
Diced Green onion tops
Lime wedges
Chili Garlic sauce
Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Salt well. Add fettuccini and cook according to package directions.
Brown ground beef. Add garlic and cook for a moment or two. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer. Make a slurry of cornstarch and water. Remove pan from heat, stir in the slurry and then return to heat stirring the whole while.
Serve beef over noodles and top as you like.
July 1, 2024 update: I recently used ground chicken in this recipe and it worked beautifully. I was blessed to find packages marked down for about $1/pound. I like ground chicken far better than I do ground turkey. It's less grainy and takes on the flavors in this dish very well
