Mongolian Beef is hands down one of my favorite take-out dishes. It’s perfectly sweet and savory, slightly spicy, and loaded with delicious aromatics like ginger green onions, and dried Sichuan chili peppers. It’s also a popular choice for many of those who can’t quite handle the spice of dishes like Mapo Tofu or Kung Pao Chicken.
The dish is stir-fried at an extremely high heat, between 350°F to 375°F, and sometimes up to 500°F at restaurants, which causes the brown sugar in the marinade to caramelize, creating the crispy texture on the meat. Green onions and scallions are added at the end to create the perfect combination of sweet, savory, and saltiness.
MONGOLIAN BEEF IS NOT FROM MONGOLIA
Some theories of the origin of this dish point to a Taiwanese chef named Wu Zhaonan in the 1950s. He added “Mongolian” to the dish to make it sound more exotic. In fact, In Mongolia, more of than not, home cooks do not fry their meat but rather just boil it and dip it in sauces. This dish eventually migrated across the Pacific and became a staple for American Chinese restaurants
NO MORE TAKE-OUTS
I think a large part of why this dish is so popular is due to P.F. Chang’s. Search the Internet and you will find a large number of P.F. Chang’s Mongolian Beef copycat recipes. I do agree that their version is good, but why not make this at home? It’s easy to make, and at least for me, is more authentic than P.F. Chang’s version because of the addition of Sichuan peppers.
HOW TO MAKE MONGOLIAN BEEF
This Mongolian Beef recipe is easy to follow and make. Ask your butcher for a 1 1/2 pound piece of flank steak or flap meat instead of already-cut sirloin steak tips, which are more difficult to slice thin.
What you will need:
- 6 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 1/2 pounds beef flap meat or flank steak, trimmed
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 quarts peanut or vegetable oil for frying
- 4 scallions, white parts minced, green parts cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2-4 small dried Sichuan chiles, stemmed and halved crosswise
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 3/4 cup water
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
Step 1: Cut beef with grain into 2 1/2 to 3-inch wide strips. Transfer to plate and freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Slice strips crosswise against grain 1/8 inch thick. Toss beef with cornstarch in bowl. Set aside.
Step 2: Line rimmed baking sheet with a triple layer of paper towels. Add oil to large Dutch oven until it measures about 1 1/2 inches deep and heat over medium-high heat to 375°F. Carefully add one-third of beef to hot oil. Using tongs or cooking chopsticks, separate pieces so they fry individually. Fry beef, stirring occasionally, until browned and crispy, 2 to 4 minutes. Adjust burner, if necessary, to maintain oil temperature between 350°F and 375°F. Using a spider skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer beef to prepared sheet. Return oil to 375°F and repeat with remaining beef in 2 batches. Transfer to sheet.
Step 3: Measure out and reserve 1 tablespoon frying oil; discard remaining oil or save for another use. Heat reserved oil in empty 14-inch flat-bottomed wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add scallion whites, chiles, garlic, and ginger and cook, mashing mixture into wok, until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Step 4: Stir in water, sugar, and soy sauce and bring to a vigourous simmer. Cook until sauce is thickened reduced to 1 1/4 cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Add beef and scallion greens and cook, tossing constantly, until sauce coats beef, about 1 minute. Serve.
Step 7: Cool 10 minutes, then pry the cakes from the pan while still warm and flexible. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 24 hours.
Recipe courtesy of A Very Chinese Cookbook
✅ Quick Tips: Read the recipe in its entirety before you start cooking. This will help you understand the ingredients, steps, and timing involved, and allow you to prepare any necessary equipment or ingredients beforehand.
Better Than Take-Out Mongolian Beef
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs beef flap meat or flank steak, trimmed
- 1/2 cup cornstarch
- 2 qt peanut or vegetable oil for frying
- 4 scallions, white parts minced, green parts cut into 1-inch pieces
- 2-4 small dried Sichuan chiles, stemmed and halved crosswise
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
- 3/4 cup water
- 2/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 6 tbsp soy sauce
Notes
- Place the beef in the freezer for 15 minutes to make it easier to slice.
- Instead of a straight-down cut, slice the beef at an angle to create more surface area for the sauce to cling to
- Do not substitute other cuts of meat as beef flap meat or flank steak are the most tender
- The best vessel to fry and cook this is a wok. If you do not have a wok, a large pan will work. This is my favorite wok.
