P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef

Total Time: 30 mins Preparation Time: 10 mins Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients

• Servings: 2
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup water
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• vegetable oil, for frying (about 1 cup)
• 1 lb flank steak
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 2 large green onions, sliced on the diagonal into one-inch lengths

Recipe

• 1 make the sauce by heating 2 tsp of vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over med/low heat.
• 2 don't get the oil too hot.
• 3 add ginger and garlic to the pan and quickly add the soy sauce and water before the garlic scorches.
• 4 dissolve the brown sugar in the sauce, then raise the heat to about medium and boil the sauce for 2-3 minutes or until the sauce thickens.
• 5 remove it from the heat.
• 6 slice the flank steak against the grain into 1/4" thick bite-size slices (tilt the blade of your knife at about a forty five degree angle to the top of the steak so that you get wider cuts).
• 7 dip the steak pieces into the cornstarch to apply a very thin dusting to both sides of each piece of beef.
• 8 let the beef sit for about 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.
• 9 as the beef sits, heat up one cup of oil in a wok (you may also use a skillet for this step as long as the beef will be mostly covered with oil).
• 10 heat the oil over medium heat until it's nice and hot, but not smoking.
• 11 add the beef to the oil and sauté for just two minutes, or until the beef just begins to darken on the edges.
• 12 you don't need a thorough cooking here since the beef is going to go back on the heat later.
• 13 stir the meat around a little so that it cooks evenly.
• 14 after a couple minutes, use a large slotted spoon to take the meat out and onto paper towels, then pour the oil out of the wok or skillet.
• 15 put the pan back over the heat, dump the meat back into it and simmer for one minute.
• 16 add the sauce, cook for one minute while stirring, then add all the green onions.
• 17 cook for one more minute, then remove the beef and onions with tongs or a slotted spoon to a serving plate.
• 18 leave the excess sauce behind in the pan.