MONGOLIAN BEEF

Juicing regularly, we travel to a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia every couple of weeks because there is a mammoth vegetable market there.  They have a gigantic selection, including bitter melon, which is reputed to be good for controlling elevated blood sugar.

This suburb is rich with ethnic diversity. Along the road we spot Korean, Chinese and Pakistani signs to name just a few.

We route this trip to coincide with a tutoring assignment, but the client cancels; so we have extra time and after loading the vegetables in our vehicle we decide to get some lunch.

We visit a Chinese restaurant in the neighbourhood and are the only Non-Orientals in the place. A group of men at a round table are speaking Chinese and eating noodles with chopsticks. You have to specifically request a table fork.

The walls are adorned with Chinese characters mixed with English translations. They have fish head soup, ox tail noodle soup, duck feet hot pot, duck tongue and foods I have never encountered before.

There is a wide selection of dim sum. We order some pork and shrimp dumplings, mongolian beef and sesame chicken. Everything is fine but I am impressed with the mongolian beef. Thin slices of beef with onion shreds and finger length pieces of bright green scallions in a sweet sauce flavoured with hoisin sauce. It is so good that my BW, the Education Tipster, insists I make it at home. And its notability demands such.

Since this dish is so deceptively easy to prepare, yet tantalizingly delicious; I get the groceries and make it, and we love it. If you’ve never tried this Chinese dish, I humbly recommend it, for its ease of preparation and wonderful taste. Here is how to prepare it.

Mongolian Beef                                Serves two

Ingredients

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 pound of thinly sliced beef (top round, chuck or flank steak). Slice on the bias and pound with a mallet to increase thinness, and then cut into bite size slices.

8 green onions (scallions, trimmed and cut into 2 inch lengths)

4 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

1 small or medium onion, sliced into slivers

1 carrot shredded broadly

Make a marinade of:

1 teaspoon of Oriental sesame oil

1 tablespoon of cornstarch

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg white

Combine all and add the beef, stir well to coat thoroughly and let sit for 30 minutes

Make a sauce of:

1 teaspoon minced gingerroot

3 tablespoons of Hoisin sauce (Chinese condiment)

2-3 tablespoons of water

1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar (or sherry, marsala or Scotch whisky)

¼ teaspoon Oriental chile paste

1 teaspoon sugar

Combine everything and set aside

Method

Heat skillet or wok hot and add the oil. As it begins to smoke, add the beef and stir to separate. Working rapidly, make a well in the centre and add the green onions, white onion slivers, carrot shreds and the garlic. Stir well.

Stir and add the sauce mixture to the skillet.

When the sauce comes to boiling stir, shut off the flame, stir for a few moments and serve with steamed rice.

That’s it. Enjoy Mongolian Beef soon, you’ll want it often.