2/13- Mongolian Beef

I'm on of the millions who have joined in the Pinterest craze, and this recipe is the result of wasting my time there. :) At least 2 friends of mine have made this and raved about it, so I decided it was my turn to give it a try. I've said on here before that I've been intimidated by Asian food, but this was by far one of the easiest ones I've ever made. No more intimidation here! To top it off, it seriously tasted like it came from a restaurant!

The recipe calls for flank steak, but that's a little too steep for my grocery budget, so I went for the reduced-price grilling steak. I confess that I looked at the price and not the cut of meat, so I can't tell you what it was, but it worked just fine (and it was CHEAP!).The recipe also says it makes 2 servings- I had about a pound and a half of meat, so I 1.5'd the recipe, and it fed all 4 of us, plus had some leftovers for Joe to take to work.

Mongolian Beef Recipe:
makes 2 servings
You will need:

1 lb of flank steak, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup of cornstarch
3 teaspoons of canola oil
1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece)
1 tablespoon of chopped garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I think I'll scale this back a bit next time, just to lower the sugar content for the sake of my crazy kids)
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
3 large green onions, sliced crosswise into thirds


Prepare the meat:
First, make sure the steak slices are dry (pat them dry) and mix them with the corn starch. Using your hands or a spoon, move them around to make sure all pieces are coated. Place beef slices in a strainer and shake off excess corn starch (see picture bellow).
Make the sauce:
Heat half of the oil in a large wok at medium-high and add the garlic and ginger. Immediately add the soy sauce, water, brown sugar and pepper flakes. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes and transfer to a bowl. Don't worry if the sauce doesn't look thick enough at this point. The corn starch in the beef will thicken it up later.
Cook the meat and assemble dish:
Turn the heat up and add the remaining oil to the wok. Add the beef and cook, stirring until it is all browned (this is a quick thing). Pour the sauce back into the wok and let it cook along with the meat. Now you can choose to cook it down and reduce the sauce or leave it thinner. Add the green onions on the last minute so the green parts will stay green and the white parts crunchy.
Serve it hot with rice.

http://www.pinkbites.com/2009/01/mongolian-beef.html

This was seriously amazingly good, and I can't wait to make it again! Despite the heat in it, both kids devoured it, and I absolutely inhaled it. SO good!! (I also think next time I'll make sure I have broccoli on hand to toss in as well.)