I had never heard of Mongolian Beef before until we had it at PF Chang’s here in Riyadh but it is delicious! Obviously not an authentic Chinese dish and most definitely not Mongolian, but delicious nonetheless. Basically it is thinly sliced flank steak and green onions in a sweet soy glaze. Yum! This is the third time I’ve tried making it and this time not only was it the easiest with the least amount of steps and ingredients but also the best flavour.
At PF Chang’s the beef is most definitely shallow or deep fried to make it really crispy but I decided to keep it a bit on the healthier side by just stir-frying. (If you’d like to get the beef super crisp though, you can fry in, I would say, about 1 cup of canola oil and then drain the excess oil before adding the sauce.).
Marinated beef: 500 grams flank steak / 2 tbsp cornstarch / 1 tbsp soy sauce / 1 tbsp cold water
4 cloves of garlic, minced / 1 bunch of green onions – just the green leaves, cut into thirds lengthwise / 2 tbsp canola oil / 1/4 cup soy sauce / 1/4 cup light brown sugar
Cut the steak thinly against the grain of the beef. In a medium bowl, combine the sliced beef, and the cornstarch, cold water and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce so that the beef is throughly coated. Cover with clingfilm and set in the fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour to marinate.
In the meantime, simply mix together the 1/4 cup soy sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl for the sauce and set aside.
In a large wok or frying pan, heat up the oil on medium-high heat. Add the beef and half of the green onion. Stir-fry, letting the beef develop some crispier brown bits by not stirring constantly. When the beef is almost cooked through, add in the minced garlic and stir-fry.
Pour in the soy and brown sugar sauce and stir until it’s thickened up and glossy. The cornstarch from the beef marinade will cause it to thicken.
Toss in the remaining green onion, remove from the heat and plate up! I like to serve this with some jasmine rice and just some simple steamed broccoli.
eating in moose jaw 