The beauty of slow cooking is that it’s often cheaper cuts of meat which respond really well to “low and slow”, which means that we can enjoy healthy, protein-rich meals without having to spend a fortune. I’m still using the slow cooker, on average, about 2-3 times a week so as well as saving on the actual meals, the cost of cooking is lower too as it’s much cheaper to run a slow cooker, even for 8 hours, than a conventional cooker.

Today’s experiment is Mongolian Beef; I’ve seen a few different recipes for this around the internet and they all call for brown sugar (a whole cup of it, no less…), which is something that Husband and I are trying to avoid at the moment, so as with the Pulled Pork, I replaced the sugar with erythritol to get the sweetness without adding sugar, although you can also use a little agave nectar. Find the best ones at Monica’s Health Mag.

Here’s how I made it:

Slow Cooker Mongolian Beef Print Prep time 10 mins Cook time 6 hours Total time 6 hours 10 mins A slow cooked beef dish with ginger, garlic and carrots. Author: Jayne Crammond Recipe type: Slow Cooker Cuisine: Asian Serves: 6 Ingredients 800g diced beef

2 tablespoons of Olive Oil

¾ cup soy sauce

½ teaspoon chilli flakes

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced ginger

¾ cup water

1 cup erythritol

¼ cup corn flour

2 grated carrots

3 spring onions, chopped Instructions Place the beef into a ziplock bag with the corn flour and shake to completely coat the meat Place the meat in the slow cooker with the oil, soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli flakes, water and sweetener Cook on low for 6 hours Add the grated carrots half an hour before serving Serve with egg noodles or a side of your choice and garnish with the chopped spring onions 3.5.3208

This is exactly my kind of slow cooker recipe – aside from a minimal amount of prep, it really is a kind of “chuck it all in and wait” dish, which makes it perfect for busy days. It’s really cold here today so getting through the door after a chilly school run and smelling our beef cooking away was truly dreamy!

I’ve never tried it with the brown sugar instead of the sweetener, so I can’t compare, but I have to say it was absolutely delicious, even without the sugar and I certainly wouldn’t ever bother making it the original way. The meat was incredibly tender after being cooked for so long and the depth of flavour was really impressive for such a simple recipe. The girls and Husband really loved it and overall, it was pretty cheap to make, if you’ve got a few basics in the store cupboard. This will definitely be one that we add to our regular dinners.

Have you tried Mongolian Beef? Let me know what you think!