Sunday 3 March 2013

Mongolian Steak and Mushrooms

Victor March 03, 2013

Here is a great one dish meal, inspired by years of travel and countless tries at eating out trying to find the same dishes from abroad. I finally nailed down this recipe after eating at a P.F. Chang's. I asked what made theirs taste differently, oddly enough they happily answered-Maggi seasoning. What is Maggi seasoning? It is a liquid vegetable based seasoning you can find in the international isle of your large chain grocery stores. If you can't find it, substitute soy sauce. It won't have the exact same flavor but it was as close as I got for years!

Full time: 30 minutes
Serves 4

You will need:

1 package mushroom slices
1 lb. flank steak, beef tenderloin, London broil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup corn starch
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp Maggi seasoning
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp fresh grated ginger or1/4 tsp ground ginger

*Optional for garnish 2 - 3 scallions diced

Let us begin:

Place steak between two sheet of plastic wrap and pound thin with a meat mallet. You are looking for roughly 1/2" thickness.

Cut steak diagonally into 1/4" or slightly larger pieces.

Dredge sliced steak in cornstarch, making sure to shake off any excess.

Let dredged steak sit on wax paper to rest for 5 minutes.

Once steak has rested. In a large sauté pan with high sides or a Wok heat vegetable oil and sesame oil over medium high heat.

Add half the steak into the pan and sauté 3-4 minutes, just until the outside crisps up. Make sure to flip once while cooking.

Remove from pan to plate and repeat with remaining steak.

Once all steak is cooked and removed from pan to plate.

Add ginger and garlic to pan and cook 1 minute.

Add in brown sugar, soy sauce, water, Maggi seasoning, and rice wine vinegar. Stirring constantly 5-8 minutes or sauce becomes thickened.