Mongolian beef is a dish served in Chinese-American

American Chinese cuisine

American Chinese cuisine refers to the style of food served by many Chinese restaurants in the United States. This type of cooking typically caters to Western tastes, and differs significantly from the original Chinese cuisine.-History:...

 restaurants consisting of sliced beef

Beef

Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...

, typically flank steak

Flank steak

The flank steak, also known as bavette, is a beef steak cut from the abdominal muscles of the cow. A relatively long and flat cut of meat, flank steak is used in a variety of dishes including London broil and fajitas...

, and stir-fried with vegetables in a savory brown sauce, usually made with hoisin sauce

Hoisin sauce

Hoisin sauce, or haixian sauce, is a Chinese dipping sauce. The word hoisin is a romanization of the Chinese word for seafood "" as pronounced in Cantonese.-Ingredients:...

, soy sauce

Soy sauce

Soy sauce is a condiment produced by fermenting soybeans with Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds, along with water and salt...

, and chili peppers

Chili pepper

Chili pepper is the fruit of plants from the genus Capsicum, members of the nightshade family, Solanaceae. The term in British English and in Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia and other Asian countries is just chilli without pepper.Chili peppers originated in the Americas...

. The beef is commonly paired with scallions or mixed vegetables and is known to be spicy. The dish is often served over crispy fried cellophane noodles

Cellophane noodles

Cellophane noodles are a type of transparent noodle made from starch , and water.They are generally sold in dried form, boiled to reconstitute, then used in soups, stir fried dishes,...

 or steamed rice.

The name of this dish is somewhat misleading, as aside from the beef, none of the ingredients or the preparation methods are drawn from traditional Mongolian cuisine

Mongolian cuisine

Mongolian cuisine refers to the local culinary traditions of Mongolia and Mongolian styled dishes. The extreme continental climate has affected the traditional diet, so the Mongolian cuisine primarily consists of dairy products, meat, and animal fats. Use of vegetables and spices is limited...

. The term "Mongolian" is rather meant to imply an "exotic" type of food.