Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Mongolian Beef


Who doesn't love take-out Chinese food? Ok, I'm sure there are some people, but I'm not one of them. When I was growing up, my parents would get it for us maybe once a month, and then we'd also go to restaurants in Philadelphia's Chinatown a few times a year. There were some great Chinese restaurants in Philadelphia...

But around here, not so much. That's why I have re-created so many take-out recipes at home. Not only have they been delicious, I'm also controlling the ingredients, calories, sodium, and fat.

My latest experiment with make-at-home-take-out was last night - Mongolian Beef. I followed
this recipe, a PF Changes copycat recipe found on the Recipe Zaar web site, with just a few changes.

The recipe didn't not include a step for marinating meat, and when working with flank steak (or sirloin strips like I did), I think it's important to marinate it mostly to tenderize it. So I marinated the sirloin strips in soy sauce, garlic powder, and red pepper flakes before starting the recipe.

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
  • 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar (I used light - it was all I had)
  • Vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup) (I used much less than this)
  • 1 lb flank steak (I used sirloin strips)
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 2 large green onions

Directions (I changed the cooking method slightly so these are my notes)
  • Marinate the meat as noted above
  • Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger; saute 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar, soy sauce, and water. Bring to a steady simmer for 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
  • Dip the 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.
  • Heat 2 tbsp oil in the same pan over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.
  • Add the beef to the oil and sauté for several minutes until beef is brown on all sides
  • Return sauce the the pan and let simmer for several minutes.
  • Mix in half of the green onions; use the remaining onions as garnish.
  • Serve over rice

Of all the fake-out take-out meals I have made at home, this one tasted the most like real take-out. Jon and I both loved it, and my dad was happy to get the leftovers for lunch today. I'd highly recommend this one!!

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2 comments:

  1. Mongolian beef is one of my favorite dishes when we go out for Chinese. This one looks just like what we order, but I'm sure it's so much better!

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  2. This looks great - I love making food like this at home. It's insane how unhealthy it can be when you get take out!

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