Mongolian Beef

It has been a long day.  A really long day.  Ethan bonked his noggin twice and has a little bruise on his forehead.  Sigh...  I swear his head holds magnetic properties to all sorts of things like the tile floor and bed frames and window sills and walls.

We made this Mongolian beef for dinner last night and I wish that we had some left so that it could lift up my spirit just a little bit but it was so good we ate it all last night.  This recipe claimed to be PF Chang's Mongolian Beef copycat.  I wouldn't say that it was PF Chang's Mongolian Beef but it was certainly tasty.  I think that I might add some crushed red pepper in the sauce next time just to spice things up a little.

 { Mongolian Beef }

Recipe found from Six Sister's Stuff

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

½ teaspoon ginger, minced

1 tablespoon garlic, chopped

½ cup soy sauce

½ cup water

¾ cup dark brown sugar

vegetable oil , for frying (about 1 cup)

1 lb flank steak

¼ cup cornstarch

2 large green onions, chopped

Heat 2 tsp. of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat.  Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.  Dissolve brown sugar in sauce, then increase heat to medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until sauce thickens. Remove from heat.

Slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices. Tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts.  Dip steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.  Let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks. 

As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok.  Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking. Add the beef to the oil and sauté until brown. Stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.  After a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels.  Dab excess oil off meat with a paper towel and add to medium saucepan with the sauce in it.  Put the pan back on the oven over medium/low heat.  Add chopped green onions and let sauce simmer until warm. Serve over rice.