Thai Beef and Basil Noodles with Shiitake Gravy

I thought my family would love this but it wasn’t a big hit. I used grass fed beef and that may have been part of the issue due to the stronger flavor but I think it was just lacking a bit. If I were to make it again I’d use toasted sesame oil to boost the flavor.

I added a little fish sauce and sambal to the sauce. Used rice vermicelli instead of wide noodle b/c that's what I had. It was good. I wish it had more bok choy and mushrooms. We added sriracha at the table. It didn't blow our hair back, though.

This was a bigger hit with my family than it was with me.  It was just ok, IMO.  It seemed to be missing something.  I'd probably use fresh minced ginger next time.  I did use half soy sauce and half fish sauce as another reviewer suggested.  I was able to omit the oil, saving on some fat and calories.  I'll make it again, it was easy enough to throw together. 

I thought this recipe came together really quickly and had great flavor. I rarely cook with beef, so this is a nice alternative for us when we need a break from chicken. I followed the recipe exactly and the whole family enjoyed. I may fool around with the vegetables in the future, but would also be fine replicating this as is.

Since I didn't have some of the ingredients, I went off recipe quite a bit, but used it as a guide.  I also lived in Thailand for 5 years, so I understand Thai cooking.  Simply speaking, it's a good recipe.  I would recommend fish sauce (not as bad/fishy as you think) instead of soy.  Go easy on the noodles or make sure they has time to absorb the sauce. I used vermicelli the second time around.  I used more beef.  I would have finished it off with chopped peanuts, but since I didn't have any, I stirred in some chunky peanut butter.  Give it a try!

pretty quick to make, we ended up using more noodles and more beef than the recipe called for. I think I would increase the volume of sauce next time and substitute the chili flakes for either sririacha or sambal oolek. It needed more salt as well. 

This was not great.  It suffers from a lack of flavor in the sauce.  The shitake's overwhelmed the dish and in general, just blah.  Usually when I make rice noodles the sauces I put with it tend to absorb so you don't taste the flavor of the noodle that much.  This was not the case with this.  You could taste the blandness in the noodle and nothing came together well.  Wouldn't bother to tweak or make again.