In episode 021 we are making Easy Beef Ramen for dinner. Susie takes your traditional (inexpensive) Top Ramen and makes it into a delicious dinner. Including flank steak, a savory broth and broccoli. Easy enough for a weeknight dinner!
Transcript
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Intro: Welcome to another delicious episode of Let’s Make Dinner, your audio library of amazing dinner recipes you can get on the table any night of the week. I’m your host, Susie Weinrich.
Susie Weinrich: I think we can all agree that we love ramen. You know those 25-cent packets of noodles, aren’t those delicious? But what if I told you that you could take that, throw away the seasoning packet, and make something so much more robust and a full one-pot dinner? You would be in. Right? We are making Easy Beef Ramen Noodles for dinner.
Tips and Tricks: We’re going to start by going over a couple of tips for this recipe. Number one, it comes together really quickly. So as soon as you start cooking, it’s like step after step after step. So you want to prep all of your ingredients before you actually start making the recipe.
The second tip is for the fresh ginger that the recipe calls for. Number one, if you buy a knob of fresh ginger, the very easiest way to peel it is by using the edge of a spoon and just scraping it across that brown outside portion of the ginger.
Number two, you can actually freeze ginger. It freezes really well and I think it will keep for up to six months in your freezer. Or number three, this is what I do now. I actually buy frozen cubes of minced ginger at the grocery store. I buy mine at Trader Joe’s, and I believe the brand is called Dorot Gardens, and they literally are just little tiny one-teaspoon cubes of fresh ginger that are minced and then frozen. Totally easy to keep on hand.
Tip number three. We’re talking about using flank steak here, which is really thin and has a very specific grain. When you’re cutting beef, you want to cut across the grain. Flank steak is a little wide, so first with your flank steak, you’re going to cut it with the grain in half, so you have two smaller halves. Then you’re going to cut these thin little quarter-inch strips, making sure that you cut against the grain. That is how you will be able to chew your beef. If you cut your beef with the grain into these quarter-inch slices, you will be chewing for days.
The last tip that I have, this recipe calls for frozen broccoli. The reason it calls for frozen broccoli is because of cooking time. The frozen broccoli cooks down perfectly in like two minutes in the pot with the noodles and the beef. If you were to use fresh broccoli, you would have to cook it for a little bit longer, and you risk overcooking the noodles and the beef. So stick with the frozen broccoli, I promise it works.
Beef Ramen Recipe: Now let’s get to making this recipe. As I said before, it comes together super quickly. So you want to do a little bit of prep before you actually start cooking. You’re going to want to peel and mince two tablespoons of fresh ginger. You’ll want to mince three garlic cloves and dice half a cup of white or yellow onion. Slice up the beef. Then measure out your seasonings and sauces. Let me go over these right now. You’re going to need one tablespoon of vegetable oil, three and a half cups of beef broth, a third a cup of low sodium soy sauce, two tablespoons of toasted or regular sesame seed oil, and three tablespoons of oyster sauce. One tablespoon of sambal, which is just like an Asian chili paste. You’ll be able to find it right in the grocery store near the Asian food section. One tablespoon of brown sugar, and then open up your ramen packets and just you’re only using the noodles. That little season packet that came with it, you can discard that. You only need the noodles.
So let’s get to cooking. You’re going to need a large pot, and you’re gonna set it over medium heat. Once that is hot, you’re going to add one tablespoon of vegetable oil, half a cup of diced white or yellow onion, three minced garlic cloves, and two tablespoons of that fresh ginger. Let that saute together for about five minutes until the onions are nice and soft. Then you’re going to pour in three and a half cups of beef broth, one tablespoon of sambal, one tablespoon of brown sugar, three tablespoons of oyster sauce, a third cup of low sodium soy sauce, and two tablespoons of the sesame seed oil. Give that a nice stir so everything combines and the sugar melts down into the sauce. Then you’re going to add that one pound of flank steak that you cut into quarter-inch strips right into the pot. Give it a nice stir, and then increase the heat to medium-high and bring it to a hard simmer, not a full rolling boil.
Once that broth is simmering, you’re going to add in three packages of ramen noodles. Again, don’t use the little season packet that came with those noodles. If you’re having trouble fitting the ramen noodles in the pot, you can always crack those ramen blocks right in half and then fit them down in. You’re going to simmer the noodles for about three minutes, and then at the end of that time, you will add in a 12-ounce bag of frozen broccoli florets. You’ll simmer it for about another one to two minutes until they are warmed through, and you just remove it from the heat, give it a stir, and it’s time to serve.
When you’re serving this beef ramen, I recommend serving it in bowls with a little bit of broth and seasoning. Garnish it with toasted sesame seeds, a little extra sambal, maybe some red pepper flakes, and some green onions. This really is a one-pot meal. There’s really no need for any side dishes here. The only thing I could think that maybe you could add is this recipe for Roasted Brussels Sprouts with a sambal aioli. It is so delicious. But not totally necessary. Again, this is a one-pot meal. You don’t need any side dishes.
I will link all of the recipes that I talked about in this episode right in the show notes for you so you can find them when you’re ready to make these easy Beef Ramen noodles.
If you like what you’re hearing on these episodes of Let’s Make Dinner, I would love to have you subscribe or follow within your preferred podcast player.
Outro: Until next time, I hope this episode of Let’s Make Dinner, makes your dinner time a little easier.
Tips Shared
- Prep all your ingredients before you start cooking, it comes together really fast!
- Use the edge of a spoon to peel the ginger, or use the frozen cubes of ginger from Dorot Gardens
- Leftover ginger can be frozen for up to 6 months.
- Flank steak should be cut against the grain to keep it tender.
- Use frozen broccoli because of the quick cooking time.
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