Mongolian ground beef
Sweet, garlicky, gingery beef in a glossy soy sauce over rice, the takeout flavor for a fraction of the price.
- 35 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.10 a serving
- 560 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated
- 4 stalks green onions
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)
From your pantry
- 2½ cups water, divided
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ cup soy sauce
- 3 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 560 calories, 28 g protein, 71 g carbs and 18 g fat, and costs about $2.10 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the rice in a strainer until the water runs mostly clear. Put it in a with 2¼ cups water and the salt and over high.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Saucepan. A saucepan is a pot with tall, straight sides and one long handle. It’s for things that need depth, like rice, sauces or a few boiled eggs.
How you’ll know: The food fills it about halfway, leaving room to bubble without spilling over.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Cover, turn to low and cook 18 minutes.
Low heatTimer: 18 min
Dolly’s tip: Leave the lid on the whole time. The trapped steam is what cooks it.While the rice cooks, the garlic, grate the ginger, and cut the green onions into 1-inch pieces.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
Dolly’s tip: Scrape the skin off ginger with the edge of a spoon, then grate it. No peeler needed.the soy sauce, brown sugar, cornstarch and remaining ¼ cup water in a small bowl, with the pepper flakes if you like.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Heat a large over medium-high, add the beef, and press it flat. Leave it 3 minutes, until underneath.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Medium-high heatTimer: 3 min
Break it into and cook 4 to 5 minutes more, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Crumble. Crumbling means breaking food into small, rough bits with your fingers or a spoon, like feta or ground meat in the pan. Small bits spread through the dish, so there’s some in every bite.
How you’ll know: The pieces are small and uneven, about pea-size, with no big clumps left.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Stir in the garlic and ginger for 30 seconds, .
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Medium-high heat
Stir the sauce again, pour it in, and let it bubble 1 to 2 minutes, stirring, until thick and glossy. Toss in the green onions for 30 seconds.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Cornstarch settles to the bottom of the bowl. Always give it a stir right before it goes in.Fluff the rice and spoon the beef over it. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if you like.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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