Mongolian Beef

I had a request to attempt something Asian, and this is the result. Tangy, sweet and spicy... wonderful over long grain white rice. I used fresh ginger and real sesame oil to really make this taste authentic. Serve this with Vegetable Fried Rice.




Serves 2
50 minutes
-large wok
-large saucepan with deep sides
Easy

INGREDIENTS
Sauce:
2 tbsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. fresh minced ginger (actually easy to get a small ginger root)
3-5 large garlic cloves
1/4 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. Swanson beef broth (about 1/2 of a can-- freeze the rest in a plastic container for another day)
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
Meat and Veggies:
1 medium red pepper
1/2 cup fresh snow peas
5 green onions
1 lb. steak, your choice of cut
cornstarch, to cover meat ~1/8 c.
2 tbsp. sesame oil

3/4 c. uncooked white long grain rice

DIRECTIONS
Sauce:
1. Pour sesame oil into saucepan. Peel both the ginger and the garlic; remove ginger's outer 'paper-ish' covering with your knife. Mince the ginger and garlic and place pieces into the sesame oil.
2. Heat sesame oil over medium heat, letting the garlic and ginger flavors infuse into the oil. Remove the saucepan from heat just when the garlic starts turning tan-- about 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Carefully pour in the soy sauce, it may spit a little. Stir in the brown sugar until it dissolves. Add in the beef broth; hold on to the remaining broth, since you may need to add more liquid later.
4. Place the saucepan back over the medium heat. Add in a dash of red pepper flakes (more if you like it spicy). Continue cooking the sauce, while it boils, for another 10 minutes. At this time it won't be very thick. Set sauce aside while you focus on the meat/veggies.
--At this time, you might want to start cooking up the white rice--
Meat and Veggies:
5. Coarsely cut up the red bell pepper, into slices, then 1.5 inch pieces. Remove ends from the snow peas and set aside with the red bell pepper. Chop up the green onions, using both the green stems and the white bulb. Leave the green onion pieces large, too. Set all veggies aside.
6. Wash meat off and cut into 1 to 2 inch slices (bite-sized pieces). Place dry pieces of meat into the large wok (NOT the sauce, yet). Sprinkle meat with cornstarch and toss/stir to coat. Pour 2 tbsp. of oil over the coated beef. Mix again.
7. Cook beef over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until browned. Add in the red bell pepper pieces and the snow peas (NO green onions, yet). Stir-fry the beef and veggies for another 5 minutes (10 minutes total for the beef), adding more oil if needed.
Combine:
8. Remove the beef and veggies and place into the large saucepan, with the sauce. Stir well. Heat up the entire dish (saucepan) over high heat. Cook for an additional 5 minutes, stirring well, while the sauce boils and thickens. Add in the green onions at the last minute, heating through.
9. Spoon hot beef + sauce over cooked white rice. Serve hot, with another Asian side-dish.