Spicy Cashew Beef with Veggies in Brown Sauce

Sometimes I have the weirdest of cravings. Close to my apartment there is a Chinese restaurant. Sometimes when we feel particularly lazy or just have no time at all we go there and get a take-out. Let me share a little secret with you. Sometimes I like to pretend that there’s just no time to cook because their Cashew Chicken in Brown Sauce is one of my favorite dishes ever!

The strange comes in here. My caving targets the sauce. It’s neither the rice nor the meat and it’s also not the veggies or cashew nuts though I adore all of those. No the icing on the cake is always the brown sauce and let’s face it if this sauce was available on its own I’d buy it and spoon it like a soup. Now the recipe I am going to share with you today is totally different from the original one yet it is largely inspired by the brown sauce of my favorite Chinese take-out.

I have built a whole different recipe around a rich and creamy brown cashew sauce with tender beef strips, crunchy veggies on a nest of Asian noodles finished off with a zing of spices. While needing only a handful of ingredients the sauce is chock-full of flavor and deliciously creamy.

Get you a spoon and be prepared to dig in.

This Spicy Cashew Beef with Veggies in Brown Sauce is the perfect dish for a weeknight dinner. It takes only a little over 30 minutes to prepare and if you follow the measurements in the description below you have a nice dinner for two plus a lovely lunch for two for the next day! 

If you’re not a fan of beef, feel free to swap the beef for chicken. If you’re not a fan of noodles or want to make this dish gluten-free just swap the noodles for rice but make sure you’ll use gluten-free soy sauce as well. The queen in this recipe is the brown sauce.

Print Recipe

Spicy Cashew Beef with Veggies in Brown Sauce

Spicy Beef with Vegetables and Mie Noodles in a light and creamy brown Cashew sauce. This stir-fry is ready in no time yet chock-full of flavor. The perfect weeknight dinner which also provides you with leftovers for lunch!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Cook Time15 minutes mins

Total Time35 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Author: Juli@1000lovelythings

Ingredients

• 300 g Mie noodles
• 600 g beef
• 1 T coconut oil
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup sweet soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 T cashew butter
• 1 - 2 tsp Sriracha depending on how spicy you want your sauce
• 3 cups mixed bell pepper
• 4 spring onions
• 1 Thai Chili
• 1 cup cashew nuts

Instructions

• Cook the Mie Noodles according to the description on the package and set aside
• Cut the beef into the desired form - I prefer beef stripes
• Cut the bell pepper - I love to cut it into rings
• Cut the spring onion in pieces of about 1,5-2 cm lenghth
• Slice the Thai Chili
• In a large frying pan melt the coconut butter and then add the beef and stir fry for about 2 min on a medium heat
• Add the soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, water, Sriracha and cashew butter and stir until boiled up
• Decrease the heat to low and add all the veggies, the cashew nuts and the Thai Chili
• Stir-fry until the veggies have reached the desired softness
• Add the noodles to the pan and mix everything well

Notes

I prefer my veggies to remain almost raw and only heat them up to add another texture to the dish
Adjust the Sriracha according to your tastebuds - I prefer 2 tsp to give the dish a little heat but 1 tsp already adds a little zing
If you prefer your beef still slightly undone skip the stirring step in the beginning and add the liquids right after the beef

Prior to typing up this recipe post I thought I’ll be fun to include more comments of my taste tester #1 into my recipe posts. First of all because he’s a funny person (I’ll deny that I ever said this) and secondly as a kind of validation. Sure I love all the recipes I post but it doesn’t hurt to hear another perspective as well, right?

I: Honey, I am about to post the recipe of the Spicy Cashew Beef with Veggies in Brown Sauce. How would you describe the recipe?

Stefan: Delicious!

I: Oh well that’ nice but actually I’d like to hear a little more than just one word!

Stefan (thinking for a few seconds): Delicious and tasty!

I: Thank you!

Okay so this experiment has failed but even though my husband is not a person of many words obviously he has a great taste in food! So believe me or him whoever you want because this Spicy Cashew Beef with Veggies in Brown Sauce is indeed delicious and tasty!

So excuse me please for today there are a ton of Christmas gifts waiting for wrapping and also a glass of eggnog to keep me company.