Mongolian Beef is another staple on the menu at most Chinese restaurants that has universal appeal and so can be counted upon as being a great meal for the family and guests alike. There are of course a large number of variations that can be found on this theme so I have produced this recipe for Mongolian Beef as the core basics. You can take it to wherever you like from here.

Ingredients

• 500 Grams (1.1 Pound) of Flank Steak or Cube Steak
• 3 Large Green Onions
• 3 Cloves of Garlic or 1 Tablespoon of Minced Garlic
• ½ Cup each of Water, Soy Sauce and Brown Sugar
• ¼ Cup of Cornstarch
• 3 Teaspoons of Cooking Oil (canola, olive or sesame are all OK)
• ½ Teaspoon each of Grated Ginger and Red Pepper Flakes
• Rice, for serving

Note: If you are worried about your dietary sodium intake then use low sodium soy sauce rather than regular soy sauce

Method

1. Mince the garlic (using a garlic press is the easiest way) and slice the green onions
2. Cut steak across the grain into thin slices of varying lengths (popping cube steak into the freezer for about 15 minutes makes it a bit easier to slice). It’s also a good idea to make sure that the steak pieces are dry so pat them with paper towels if necessary. Now sprinkle the cornstarch over the sliced beef. Then remove excess cornstarch from the meat by shaking in a colander or mesh sieve.

Note: Probably a good idea to begin cooking the rice at this point as it should be ready at the same time as the rest of the Mongolian Beef.

1. Over a medium-high heat in your wok or fry pan heat up half of the cooking oil then add the garlic and ginger and give a quick stir for 1 to 2 seconds before adding the soy sauce, water brown sugar and red pepper flakes in that order. Stir fry the sauce for 2 minutes. Then transfer sauce to another bowl and set temporarily aside.

Note: The sauce won’t be as thick as the final product yet because it will thicken when the cornstarch beef strips are added in a little while. So don’t fret on it.

1. Immediately transfer the meat to the same wok/fry pan and stir-fry until browned (no longer pink). Now return the sauce back into wok/fry pan and cook with meat for another 10 minutes or so. If you want the sauce to be thicker just turn the heat up for a little bit to let it reduce.
2. Finally add the green onions a couple of minutes prior to serving and stir-fry so that the white bits are crunchy and yet the green bits remain green

Note: You may want to add a few other stir-fry vegetables. If so add them at the same time as the green onions if they are of the fresh variety. If they are frozen then add them before the green onions and stir-fry them a bit to thaw them out and bring them up to cooking temperature at which point you can add the green onions.

Serving:

Serve over rice or whatever and enjoy!