Mongolian Beef Recipe

When I was pregnant with Matthew I was really sick.  My sister, Sharon stayed with us for a couple of months to help out.  I had hyperemesis and could barely get out of bed.  One of the meals Sharon ended up cooking while she was here was Mongolian Beef.  I can't say that I was a good judge of the recipe being that I don't even remember trying it.  I have no clue what recipe she even used at the time.  Like I said, I was out of it.  However, James absolutely loved it and has been asking for it ever since.  Anytime I cooked any kind of steak meat and he would ask, "What's for dinner, Mom? Is it Mongolian Beef?"  He would ask often!! 
I finally got tired of saying no to him and found a recipe for Mongolian Beef.

And it was totally worth it!!  This is a copycat recipe from P.F.Chang's.  I can't tell you if it tastes like P.F. Changs.  We don't have one here and I haven't been to one in at least 4 years.  This recipe is very, very good though.  Rarely does a platter get licked completely clean at our house, but the night I cooked this meal there were no leftovers.  I tweaked my version of the recipe just a tad to accommodate my larger family so if you need less you may want to click over to the original.  I served it over rice and added frozen broccoli at the same time as the green onions are added.  Cook this meal!  It is delicious!

P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/4 teaspoon dry ginger 
• 2 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup brown sugar
• vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)
• 3 lbs sirloin strip steak
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 4 large green onions, sliced on the diagonal into one-inch lengths
• 1 bag frozen cut broccoli
• Cooked brown rice

Directions:

Make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.  Don't get the oil too hot.  Add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.  Dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.  Remove it from the 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 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. 

 

As the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil).  Heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.  Add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.  You don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later.  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, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.

 

Put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.  Add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onion and broccoli.  Cook for one more minute, then remove the beef, onions and broccoli with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.  Leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.

 

Serve over brown rice. 

Recipe found at food.com P.F.Chang's Mongolian Beef