Aug 30 2014
Saturday I had planned to do Mongolian beef in my Wok outdoors on my gas burner. By late afternoon I changed to doing it indoors. There were too many rain cells coming up from the SW.
I used a recipe from Food Network since it was using deep fried stir fry rice noodles. I am not sure they ever tried the recipe; it called for using cooked noodles and I did not want to try to deep fry wet noodles. I used to deep fry cellophane noodles for a Chinese Chicken salad and know they puffed up as soon as they hit the hot oil. They added some nice crispness to the salad.
I added some snow pea pods and sliced carrots to the recipe and added Hoisin sauce and more soy sauce to the sauce mix. I would have liked some crushed red pepper too but knew the wife would not like it. I had never used a wok on my glass top stove; my wok has a small flat in the bottom but did not want to scratch the top moving the wok while stirring. I used the ring and was not sure how it would work but it worked great on med. high.
It also called for the marinated beef to be deep fried for about 4 minutes to get browned up. I decided to do the deep frying in a large sauce pan instead of the wok so I didn’t have to pour off the oil after deep frying. That didn’t work out so great, as soon as I had the noodles done the oil temp climbed too high so set off the burner and let the stove top cool down. As soon as I got the oil back to 360 deg. I put the meat in it cooled too much and didn’t recover fast enough to brown the meat. I removed it after 3 ½ minutes to drain and would let brown up in the wok before adding the sauce.
There are a lot of cooking methods for Mongolian beef but typically doing in a wok I think is best. It usually calls for flank steak sliced thin on a bias. I had two thin rib eye steaks to use. I cut most of the fat off and sliced it up. It turned out nice and very tender.
The stir fry rice noodles I use are Thai Kitchen brand and come in 2 oz. packs; about 4X5X1 1/2 inches. One pack is just enough for two serving deep fried or cooked normally. I used a 3 quart sauce pan to deep fry and broke the nest in half. I dropped both into the oil and instantly they filled the whole pan; so use a pan deep enough if you use that method. Have tongs handy to remove to a paper towel lined bowl.
I hope I can do this again soon outdoors and use the wok for the deep frying and stir frying. The wife and I both loved this dish; the beef and veggies were great over the crispy noodles. We had some vinegar, oil and garlic marinated tomatoes, cucumbers and onions for a side.
Smokin Don
Recipe:
Mongolian beef in a wok
Adapted from a recipe on Food Network
1 16oz. flank steak
1 egg
1 teaspoon cornstarch
2 TBS. vegetable oil
2 to 4 oz. of stir fry rice noodles, uncooked
1 TBS. chopped garlic
5 or 6 green onions sliced ¾ inch long, white and green parts
1 cup snow pea pods
1 cup sliced carrots
Sauce:
¼ cup brown sugar
1 TBS. hoisin sauce
1 to 2 TBS soy sauce
Ground pepper to taste
Trim the fat off the flank steak and cut into thin pieces against the grain. Marinate the meat for 1 hour in the mix of egg, cornstarch, and 2 tablespoons oil.
Have all your vegies prepared ahead. Mix up the sauce ingredients. Heat about 2 to 2 ½ inches of oil to a large wok 350 to 360 deg. Fry the rice noodles, they will puff up immediately. It’s best to have enough oil to cover them or you will have to turn quickly to get them all puffed up. Remove with tongs to a paper towel lined bowl and set aside.
Add more oil if needed, make sure it’s hot enough and fry the marinated beef until browned well about 4 minutes. You can do in batches and remove to a paper towel lined bowl. Pour off the oil to a sauce pan.
Add 2 TBS. oil to the wok and reheat. Add in the carrots and stir for a few minutes then add the pea pods and stir a couple minutes. Add in the garlic and green onions and stir, and then add the beef and sauce. Stir for a few minutes to get all coated well with the sauce. Place a lid on the wok and let steam a couple of minutes.
Serve over the rice noodles and good salad for a side. I had some vinegar marinated tomato, cucumber and onion salad with mine.
Note: I used 2 oz. of the rice noodles and it was plenty for two. This would serve four if you used four oz. of the noodles.
