Authentic Mongolian Beef Recipe

Mongolian beef is a chinese american dish that is actually not created in mongolia. The dish originated in taiwan as a chinese barbecue. The dish has no links to mongolia cuisine or cooking. The word association of monoglian barbeque was popularized and the stir fried beef dish of mongolian beef was created. 

What is Mongolian Beef?

Mongolian beef is a stir fried beef (usually flank steak) with onions or green onions, mixed in with a sauce. It could be spicy or nonspicy. 

Texture of Meat

I again, have a crazy obsessive problem of making sure everything in a dish taste the best that it can be. I’ve made this dish a few times and it tasted great, but the texture of the meat just bothered me. It wasn’t completely tender like the ones at a restaurant. I consulted my father in law who owned a restaurant for 30 years to get his input on how to attain that perfectly soft and tender meat. The key to making this beef tender is to go through a simple process of slapping the steak to help tenderizing, and using a mixture of cornstarch and water and marinating the meat about an hour before cooking. This process breaks down the protein and tenderizes the meat to the epitome of softness. If you’re at a rush of time, the quick stir fry will taste just fine, but if you want to have a more tender and soft texture, I’d advise you to give your flank steak some love and tenderize it before cooking. 

Time: 30 Minutes

Level: Easy

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp hoisin sauce
• 2 tbsp oyster sauce
• 1 ½ tbsp soybean chili sauce
• ½ tsp chicken bouillon
• ½ tbsp oil
• 1-2 lb Flank steak
• 2 sprigs of green onion

Marinade

• 1 cup water 
• 4 tbsp corn starch

Instructions

1. Rinse your flank steak and pat down dry. Take your flank steak and throw it in the cutting board a few times. Really slap the steak down as much as you can. In a bowl, mix the water and corn starch together. In a prep bowl, mix flank steak and marinade and let it sit for an hour. 
2. Slice green onion in 2 inch increments. Discard the front and ends of green onion.
3. In a wok, heat up on medium heat. Once wok is warm, add in oil. When oil is translucent, add in beef, and stir fry until beef is browned. 
4. After beef is 80 percent cooked, take out beef. Turn down the heat to low, and add in hoisin, oyster sauce, chili sauce, adn chicken bouillon. Taste sauce and make adjustments. Once sauce is boiling, add in green onion and green and saute to mix. Wok toss the beef and sauce together for 1 minute.
5. Serve beef right away and enjoy!

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