lellow jello: beef it up! mongolian style

we used to eat a lot of takeout. a lot...i'm a little embarrassed to admit it, but minimally, we did it every weekend, and sometimes (when i was feeling lazing) during the week too. i don't miss it for the most part. i feel like most of the things that we used to takeout could be done fairly easily at home. but i've never really ventured into making chinese takeout. i don't know why. i love it. mongolian beef is one of my faves. it has such robust flavor. why is it called mongolian beef? is it mongolian? or chinese? i actually had to google it. turns out it's neither. it's "chinese american." not traditional at all. oh well. it's still delicious!

the original recipe was a pinterest find. i tripled the original recipe. i know. that seems ridiculous. but in my attempt to be frugal, i bought the beef from the bulk store, and they don't sell just one pound. plus, i was feeding 5 adults, and my mama always said to get 1/2 a pound of meat per person, so i figured i wouldn't be going too overboard. anyhoo, since i beefed it up and did 3 lbs, i cut the beef before starting the sauce, because i knew it would take me a little while. we also had some steamed bok choy. the recipe made a lot of sauce, and the bok choy was amazing topped with a bit of the sauce.

Mongolian Beef
1 tbs vegetable oil
1½ tsp ginger, minced
4 tbs garlic, minced
1½ cup soy sauce
1½ cup water
2½ cup dark brown sugar
vegetable oil, for frying (~ 1 cup)
3 lb flank steak
3/4 cup cornstarch
2 large green onions, chopped

heat 1 tbs of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium/low heat,
without letting it get too hot. add ginger, garlic, soy sauce and water to the pan, being careful not to scorch the garlic. dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then increase the heat to medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens. remove it from the heat and set aside

slice the flank steak against the grain at a 45 degree angle into 1/4" thick slices. coat each piece with cornstarch and then let sit for 10 minutes.

heat up one cup of oil in a wok over medium heat. the oil should be hot, but not smoking. add the beef to the oil in batches and saute until brown, cooking evenly on both sides. after a couple of minutes, remove the cooked meat and place on paper towels. dab excess oil off meat and add to back to the wok together with the sauce. put the wok over medium/low heat. add chopped green onions and let sauce simmer. i added a little extra cornstarch (mixed with water) to thicken the sauce a little more. serve over rice.