Mongolian Beef

I couldn't start my blog with juts a welcome post. I absolutely had to cook something, to share something. I have to say, I've definitely made food that has looked much prettier than the Mongolian Beef turned out looking, because it pretty much appears to be slop on top of some rice. However, the flavor was really good. I found this recipe from grouprecipes.com, a website I have found out about just recently, but it's pretty neat how you can search for recipes based on several different ingredients.

Basically, I'm moving out of my current house in less than a month because the lease is up. Since things are still kind of up in the air about where I'll be living I'm trying my best to get rid of the food I do have here. So for the Mongolian Beef, all I had to buy was the broccoli, as I had all the other ingredients laying around my kitchen.

So anyway, expect in the future posts of all kinds of food, dinners, baked goods, I'll do it all. I'm still learning and I know practice makes perfect. For the most part I'll be using other peoples' recipes because I still lack the amazing skills of being totally innovative (though the other day I did make some pretty bomb chicken without a recipe). But I hope this blog becomes a growing experience for me.

Mongolian Beef

Ingredients:

1/2 lb round steak

1 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp Kikoman soy sauce

2 tsp sherry

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 cups broccoli

2 tsp cornstarch

2 tsp water

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 tbsp sesame oil

garnish with sesame seeds about 1/2 tsp per serving

1. Slice steak thinly and place strips in a bowl. Add next 6 ingredients (through ginger). Stir and allow to stand, covered, while you prepare the rest of the dish.

2. Use a high flame, heat wok, or large frying pan. Add oil to hot pot and heat the oil. Add and stir fry the broccoli, cooking for a few minutes. Add chicken broth, cover, and cook 4-5 minutes, stirring occassionally. Uncover, stir, and remove broccoli to another dish. Set aside.

3. Reheat pan; add small amount of oil and heat. Add beef and stir fry. Add broccoli, stir. Mix cornstarch and water, add to meat and broccoli. Cook until gravy thickens. Pour sesame oil over, stir well. Pour onto serving platter, garnish with sesame seeds.

NOTES: I found that the sauce in this recipe made such a small amount, I found myself dumping more sherry, soy sauce, and the rest of the stuff in to make what I felt was a more suitable amount. Also, the amount of time it said to cook the broccoli seemed short to me. After the 5 minutes my broccoli was still rock hard, so I cooked it longer until it was mushier, because I like my broccoli softer than I do harder.