The Soup Diva

My favorite type of stir-fry, hands-down, is Mongolian barbeque. Normally, I’m a local restaurant kind of girl; I like to support small business in general, and hubby and I both look for unique spots to eat both in town and when traveling. We have one local Mongolian barbeque in town, as well as Genghis Grill (a chain). These are places where I can get exactly what I want without cooking it or having to clean up (and that’s hard to beat!)

Mongolian grills are like an Asian version of Subway — all the ingredients are raw, and you select them yourself in a metal bowl your server gives you when you are seated. There are over a dozen different meats, even more vegetables, and seasoning blends to suit any taste. You fill your bowl as full as you can with any combination of the above, fill small cups with whatever sauce(s) you’d like poured on top after cooking, and hand everything to one of the grill masters, who will ask you which starch you want (white or brown rice, udon or spiral noodles, tortillas, or even cabbage for the low-carb folks). Then you sit down and wait for your server to bring it in a unique forward-tilting bowl that lends itself well to shoveling the goodness in as quickly as your hunger allows.

I have spent several years developing my perfect bowl. I think I have it:

• Meats: steak & seafood (scallops, squid, shrimp)
• Seasonings: salt, pepper, and a little ground ginger or garlic
• Vegetables: carrots, water chestnuts, mushrooms, broccoli, and a few bamboo shoots
• Sauce: honey soy and a little chili garlic sauce (yep, it’s everywhere!)
• Starch: brown or fried rice, or sometimes udon

All my favorite stir-fry things, seasoned and cooked just the way I like them; it’s also fresh and fairly healthy. Win-win!

My ultimate bowl at Genghis Grill

My ultimate bowl at Chao’s Mongolian Grill