Mongolian beef is made of flank steak, a lean cut of beef, with a marinade of brown sugar, soy sauce, ginger, and garlic. The telltale sign of this dish is the green onions or scallions added at the end, and variations on the dish can include mushrooms, broccoli, or cabbage.

Despite the name, the dish doesn’t come from Mongolia but is a Chinese-Taiwanese creation. Since its introduction to the US, where it's served atop steamed rice or fried glass noodles, it's also become popular in America. The "Mongolian" aspect of the name comes from the fact that the dish was invented at Mongolian barbecue restaurants in Taiwan, where they first sprung up.

However, Mongolian barbecue isn't Mongolian either, and the restaurant concept was invented by a restaurateur named Wu Zhaonan in Taiwan in the 1950s. The concept of choosing your own meat, vegetables, and sauces, and stir-frying them together, and having it presented in a bowl was a hit with diners who enjoyed the variety.

Referring to a restaurant as “Mongolian” in China lent an air of exoticness to the establishment and Mongolian barbecue restaurants that sprung up at the time were also influenced by Japanese teppanyaki restaurants. So although various aspects of Mongolian beef are influenced by a number of Asian countries, Mongolia isn't one of them.