Mongolian Beef with Gravy

A treasure to add to the wok of life!

Mongolian beef hails from Taiwan and ain’t really Mongolian.

It is tender strips of beef smothered in a sweet and savoury sauce, just like they serve at your favourite Asian restaurant. All you need are few simple ingredients and 20 minutes – to make this at home.

Clean and slice 500 gms of flank steak into 1/2 inch think pieces. Marinate the beef pieces (that’s called velveting) with – 2 tbs soy sauce, 1 tsp brown sugar, 7-8 cloves of garlic, chopped, 1 inch piece of ginger, julienned, 5 slit green chillies, 1 tbs crushed black pepper and a dash of salt (the soy sauce already has salt, so go easy)

Heat 3 tbs gingelly oil (or sunflower oil) in a pan and sear the beef slices quickly – 2 mins each side (without crowding the pan) Save the marinade liquid.

Into a pressure cooker, add the leftover oil in which the beef was fried.

Add 2 finely cubed onions and sauté well. Add the fried beef and the leftover marinade liquid.

Cook for 5-6 whistles, until the beef is thoroughly done.

Open the lid, add 2 tbs soy sauce. Add 1/2 cup hot water into which 1 tsp corn flour has been mixed. Once you add this corn flour slurry, keep stirring until the gravy thickens.

Cook for another couple of minutes.

Garnish the dish with thinly sliced stalks of scallions (or with spring onions – and no these two aren’t the same) Serve hot over steamed rice or noodles.

Note: If you place the beef in the freezer for 30 minutes before cooking,  it would be much easier to slice.

By Linda Joseph Kavalackal,
Christ & Co.