Easy Chinese Food Recipes Beef

MONGOLIAN BEEF

Ingredients

For the beef:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 ½ pounds flank steak
• ½ cup cornstarch

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil (leftover from removing all the fry oil except this 1 tablespoon)
• 2 teaspoon fresh ginger (minced)
• 1 tablespoon garlic (minced)
• ½ cup soy sauce
• ½ cup water
• ½ cup dark brown sugar (packed)
• 2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon sriracha
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 4-5 green onions cut on the diagonal into 2 inch pieces

Instructions

1. Freeze the flank steak for 30-50 minutes to make it easier to slice. Slice the meat against the grain into ¼ inch slices.
2. Place the cornstarch in a bowl and toss the meat pieces in the cornstarch. Let sit for 15 minutes.
3. Heat the one cup of vegetable oil in a large pan over medium-high heat.
4. Add the cornstarch coated beef to the hot oil. Be careful to not crowd the pan and cook in batches. Cook 1-2 minutes per side (it will cook more in the sauce later). Remove meat to a plate. Be careful of hot oil! Leave all those yummy bits of fry stuff left in the pan. They will add to the sauce flavor.
5. Now to make the sauce. Empty out all the oil from the pan except about 1 tablespoon. Reduce the heat to medium.
6. Add the ginger and garlic and stir for about one minute.
7. Add the brown sugar first because you don’t want to add liquid to hot grease. Stir. Then add the soy sauce, wanter, hoisin sauce, sriracha and red pepper flakes to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer until it thickens. Stir occasionally scraping up the yummy bits at the bottom of the pan.
8. You can add a cornstarch/water mixture if it doesn’t get as thick as you like. I added 1 tablespoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water.
9. Once the sauce has thickened add the meat back into the pan. Add the sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and green onions. Stir to combine and heat through. Cook until meat is at your preference.
10. Serve over rice and enjoy!

PRO TIPS:

When slicing the meat I highly suggest to freeze it for 30-50 minutes beforehand. That way, it will freeze just enough that cutting it will become very smooth and easy. Make sure that you cut the steak against the grain.

You can substitute light brown sugar for the dark brown sugar, but it will slightly alter the flavoring.

Be very cautious of how thick you cut the meat. If you cut it too thin, it will become flimsy and cook very quickly. But, if cut too thick it will not cook through. Try to keep it to ¼ inch thick cuts.

Be aware of hot oil! I can’t stress this enough. One of the trickiest things about making this recipe when I first started out, was working with the hot oil and making sure that I didn’t get burned.

Don't overcrowd the pan - cook the meat in batches if your pan isn't large enough.

If you don't already own one, I would invest in a good wok (this is the one I own)! I use it all the time for stir fry and other dishes! 

Feel free to swap out the soy sauce for a reduced-sodium soy sauce.