P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Stir Fry

P. F. Chang's Mongolian Beef Stir Fry

Friday night my lovely wife choose to take me to the Dragon Star Chinese Restaurant here in Heber City Utah.  It's run by a husband and wife team, and the location leaves a lot to be desired, but we've always enjoyed the food.  Anyway, one of the choices we choose was Mongolian Beef.  Their version had a ton of vegetables in it, and was spicy.

Fast forward to last night, being Sunday night, September 15th, 2013, and I had a taste for Stir Fry.  So I searched around and got a few recipes from here and there, including some cookbooks. The mix mash of recipes I used and found are enough for this to be unique, but it does resemble the P.F. Chang's Mongolian Beef more than it does the Dragon Star Mongolian Beef. In other words, it's more sweet than spicy.  Here is what I did, and it turned out great. Unfortunately, in today's day and age, I forgot to take pictures of the food and prep, so it will all have to be in your imagination.

INGREDIENTS

2 teaspoons of vegetable oil. I used Crisco Brand.
1 Tablespoon of Ginger (I had a tube of Garlic Paste from Gourmet Garden)
1 Tablespoon of Garlic (I had a jar of Minced Garlic from Spice World)
1/2 Cup of Soy Sauce (Kikkoman)
1/2 Cup of Swanson's Beef Broth (use water if you don't have broth)
3/4 Cup of Dark Brown Sugar
1 cup of Vegetable Oil
1 lb of flank steak
1 carrot
1 onion
1 bell pepper
3-4 stalks of celery
1 handful of peanuts
Dash of Seasame Seeds
1 bunch of green onions
1 Zuchini
1/4 cup of corn starch

Start by putting 2 Tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a pot and heating it over high heat.

When the oil is hot add a tablespoon of minced garlic and 1 tablespoon of minced ginger.

Stir the garlic and ginger around for a second, till it get really arromatic in your kitchen.  Smells amazing.  30 seconds or so.  Then add the soy sauce and beef broth (or water).  Then stir it all up.  Then add your 3/4 of a cup of Brown Sugar and dissolve it.  

NOTE: My wife thought it was too sweet, but my boys liked it the way it was.  If you think it might be too sweet, cut the brown sugar down here.

Cook for about 2-4 minutes, until the sauce thickens.  Take it off the heat and set it aside.

Now cut up or flank steak.  We did chunks, which I wouldn't recommend up on reflection.  I would do thin little wafers.  Then dip the steak in corn starch so it's dusted with the stuff and let is sit in the cornstarch for 10 minutes so that the cornstarch sticks.  Then you can deep fry it in the Vegetable Oil (New Pan).  I also think you could just fry it instead.  I think I ended up over cooking it. I would do this lightly if I were you.  Just flash fry it in some oil when I do it again.

Combine the beef with the sauce in a pot and heat.

In another pan with a little oil, stir fry the vegetables.  I started with the carrots to get them cooking a bit before adding everything else.  It was a nice mess of vegetables when I was done.

Add the vegetables to the pot of meat and sauce, stir, and it's ready to serve.  Don't forget the Sesame seeds and peanuts.  

Serve over noodles or rice.  We used Wel Pak Chow Mein Stir-Fry Noodles Chuka Soba:

Delicious!  

Rick's Swiss Steak

Rick's Swiss Steak

My brother Rick has this recipe for Swiss Steak that is ridiculously good.  In fact... so good, that I tend to eat it until I'm sick every time.  Literally. It's not really funny, but I honest eat too much and get kind of sick.  Here we go:

INGREDIENTS
1-2 lbs of 7 blade chuck steak - Cheapest cut of meat you can get basically.
1 Large Onion
1 Tablespoon of Minced Garlic (fresh or the stuff from a jar)
Flour
Ground Pepper
Season All Season Salt
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco Sauce
Kitchen Bouquet Gravy Mix (1 Cap full)
Bouquet Garni
1 8 oz can of tomatoes
1 can of Mushrooms or a package of Mushrooms
2 Cans of Beef Broth
1 Cup of Burgundy Wine
1/2 pound of Butter

Mix some flour (1/2 cup to a full cup) with loads of ground pepper and seasoned salt).  Till the color of the flour is almost orange..  Then, on a wooden surface, with a mallet, pound the hell out of the meat, beating in the flour mixture.  Flatten that meat out.

When you are done, brown the meet in 1/2 inch deep melted butter.  Lots of butter.  Remove the meat.

Then add Onions and Garlic and cook for 5-10 minutes. You might have to add more butter here.  Then add the mushrooms, and Bouquet Garni.  Cook till onions are clear.

Then add the meat back into the mixture along with the 2 cans of beef broth, the can of tomatoes, a dash of Worcestershire sauce, tobacco, Kitchen Bouquet Gravy Mix, Red wine, and simmer for 1 hour or more.  Season to taste if it's not already perfect, and add as splash of Burgundy just prior to serving.