Mongolian Beef

One of the things I enjoy most about starting this blog (besides you guys and your awesome comments) is trying foods I otherwise wouldn't think of making. I come from a large Italian family, so before starting this blog I would typically stick to pasta dishes or meals I'm used to. I've seen Mongolian Beef on menus before, but always grazed right past it. Until now.

Luckily I found this recipe a while back and put it in my recipe binder. I usually have Chris flip through to pick out our meals for the week, and this is one was on his list to make ASAP. This is another one we both really enjoyed. The sauce was easy to prepare and very flavorful. I will be making this again soon!



Printable Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. flank or skirt steak
• 1/4 cup corn starch
• 2 tsp. vegetable or peanut oil
• 1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tbsp. garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 bunch green onions, green part only, sliced into small pieces

Trim all fat and silver skin from meat. Lay steaks out horizontally on the cutting board with the grain running vertically. Slice the slab into manageable sized pieces. Then cut the meat opposite the grain (horizontal) into bite-sized pieces.

Dust steak pieces lightly in cornstarch and set aside while preparing the sauce.

In a small sauce pan heat oil over medium high heat. Add ginger and garlic. Add soy sauce and water to the ginger and garlic before it browns. Add brown sugar and whisk until dissolved. Bring sauce to a boil and simmer about 10 minutes or until slightly reduced and thickened. Remove from the heat and reserve.

In a large skillet or wok heat 1/3 cup oil over medium high heat. Working in batches, add the steak a few at a time to the hot oil. Cook about 1 minute without touching the meat then flip each piece and cook 1 minute more. Remove meat while still rare inside, and continue with next batch. Once all meat is browned, pour off oil and wipe out skillet.

Heat skillet over high heat and add mushrooms. Cook a couple of minutes or until mushrooms are slightly softened and browned. Reserve in separate bowl.

Add steak to the hot pan and cook about 1 minute. Add sauce to the pan and simmer and toss meat and sauce about 1 minute. Add mushrooms and green onions. Toss with steak and sauce and heat 1 minute. Serve over rice.

Source: Chaos in the Kitchen