Mongolian Beef

Excuse the sad picture quality - we ate this meal long after the summer sun went down and food just isn't as appetizing when not photographed in natural light. But don't let that stop you from trying this dish! It's absolutely delicious and was a huge hit at our house. I was wishing I had doubled it just so we'd have leftovers.

I found the recipe through Pinterest and it's originally from Pink Bites. It tastes very similar to a restaurant quality Mongolian Beef dish. The meat is very tender and the sauce is salty and sweet, all at the same time. Plus, it cooks so darn fast it's perfect for a weeknight meal!

This is really enough for just two hungry people.

Mongolian Beef
1 lb of flank steak, thinly sliced crosswise
1/4 cup of cornstarch
3 teaspoons of canola or vegetable 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
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
3 large green onions, thinly sliced

Pat the steak slices dry and mix them with the corn starch. Place them in a strainer and shake off excess corn starch.

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.

Turn the heat up and add the remaining oil to the wok. Add the beef and cook, stirring until it is all browned. Pour the sauce back into the wok and let it cook along with the meat. I let it simmer some to thicken and then even sprinkled a bit more cornstarch into the sauce to aid in thickening it up some. Or, you can leave it thinner.

Serve with hot rice and top with the green onions.