Mongolian Beef Soup

From Oonagh Williams of Royal Temptations Catering

Easily made, tasty hot soup for Halloween or any chilly night. 

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled, quartered lengthwise and cut into ~1” pieces
• 2 celery stalks, washed, quartered lengthwise and cut into ~ 1” pieces
• Broccoli stalks, chopped, if you have them
• ~1 lb shaved steak, cut up into smaller pieces. I like the certified Angus my local chain grocery store carries.
• 2 Tablespoons oil–I normally use avocado oil. I used to use peanut oil, I never use canola or soy oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
• 1 Tablespoon fresh ginger 
• 1/3 cup tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 8 cups water
• 1 Tablespoon beef stock concentrate (gluten-free)
  • If you can’t find this gluten-free, use 8 cups of beef stock instead of 8 cups water with stock concentrate
• 1/2 can baby corn
• Mushrooms, cleaned, halved and sliced
• Sliced snap peas, amount to your preference.
• Handful of chopped frozen spinach
• 4 oz fine gluten-free rice noodles
  • I’ve only seen rice noodles as “bricks” in large containers of several bricks. Look at the weight of packet and determine how many “bricks” you need. Add more noodles to make soup thicker, or fewer noodles so soup is runnier.
• 1 Tablespoon corn starch
• Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. In a large pan, fry onion, carrots, celery, broccoli, garlic, ginger with oil over medium heat until softening, then add beef and fry for a few minutes until sealed.
2. Add tamari, light brown sugar, 8 cups water and 1 Tbsp beef stock concentrate (8 cups if you are cooking noodles in soup, only 6 cups if noodles are cooked separately), sliced baby corn, mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Leave to cook for at least 20 minutes until carrots and celery are tender.
4. Add sliced snap peas, handful of chopped frozen spinach and about 4 oz very fine rice noodles. Put the noodles on top of soup, leave to cook for 5 mins, then use scissors in soup to cut them smaller—dry noodles outside the bag don’t break easily and tend to explode. Easier to make them smaller once they’re cooked.
5. Thicken with Tablespoon of corn starch mixed with 2 Tablespoons of water if you want.
6. Enjoy warm!
   1. Noodles will absorb more liquid as soup sits, so don’t leave it too long. If you want to meal prep this, make the soup and noodles separately—you should be able to add the dry noodles to the soup portion the day off and microwave for a few minutes, then leave them in the hot soup until they’ve softened to your liking.