Mongolian Beef Recipe

September 23, 2008

Last month during the Beijing Olympics, I shared many popular American Chinese food recipes and the responses were overwhelming. I got numerous emails from my readers trying out my recipes with great success. They thanked me profusely with some of the sweetest emails I've ever received and requested more popular Chinese recipes such as Mongolian beef and orange chicken.

Mongolian beef is probably one of the most popular beef dishes in the United States, perhaps right after beef and broccoli. Mongolian beef--as the cover shot above suggested--is not a traditional Mongolian dish. I am personally not sure about the origins of this recipe but according to Wikipedia, Mongolian beef is a Chinese-American creation. However, I have a Shang Palace Cookbook (Shang Palace is the signature Chinese restaurant at Shangri-La Hotels) and Mongolian beef is featured. I believe Mongolian beef is a legitimate Chinese dish that has been adapted by overseas Chinese restaurants...

Near my office at Beverly Hills--where Chinese restaurants are almost non-existent--I have to go to PF Chang when I need my Chinese lunch fix. While I am not a fan of PF Chang and chain restaurants, I have to say that PF Chang does a decent job with its Mongolian beef. In fact, Mongolian beef is probably one of the few redeeming items on their menu.

My Mongolian beef recipe is very close to the taste of PF Chang's, except that I used leeks instead of scallions. If you are not a fan of leeks, or can't get them where you live, scallions work, too.

Now, tell me if your local Chinese restaurants (in the UK, Australia, Canada) serve Mongolian beef? I am really curious to know.

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If you like Mongolian beef, you might also like the following recipes:

Chow Mein

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Mongolian Beef
Adapted from The Essence of Shangri-La

Ingredients:

8 oz beef tenderloin (thinly sliced)
2 tablespoons cooking oil
2 stalks leeks (sliced diagonally)
1 inch ginger (finely chopped)
3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
1 stalk shredded scallion (white part only for garnishing)

Marinate:

1 teaspoon corn starch
1 teaspoon soy sauce
t tablespoon water
1 teaspoon Chinese cooking wine (rice wine or Shaoxing wine)

Sauce:

2 teaspoons oyster sauce
2 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (ABC Kecap Manis)
1/2 teaspoon dark soy sauce
3 dashes white pepper powder
1/8 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon Maggi seasoning
Salt & sugar to taste

Method:

Marinate the beef slices with the seasonings for 30 minutes.

Heat up a wok with 1 tablespoon of oil and stir-fry the marinated beef until they are half-done. Dish out and set aside.

Heat up another 1 tablespoon of oil and saute the garlic and ginger until aromatic. Add the beef back into the wok and then the sauce. Continue to stir-fry until the beef slices are almost done, then add the leeks into the wok. Do a few quick stirs, add salt and sugar to taste, dish out and garnish with the shredded scallions. Serve hot.

Labels: Chinese Food, Chinese Recipes, Cookbook Recipes