Mongolian beef

I found this recipe on your homebased mom's website. It is supposed to be like PF Chang's. I don't know how much it is like PF Changs, but it was delicious. I loved it. Not the greatest picture. I let Brandon take it, and I don't think he looked at it after snapping it to see if it looked OK. I also made broccoli salad, but cropped it out of the picture because it was so shadowy. I'll add that one later because it is a nice side.

So I remade this recipe yesterday 9/23/2010 and I'm posting myself some notes because had I just made it yesterday it wouldn't have got a 5 star - at least not from me.  Here is what I did differently - I had twice the amount of meat called for so I just doubled the recipe.  Not sure why, but I guess that was a bad idea.  

Problems today

-cornstarch coating came off all over my spoon and then didn't thicken up the sauce - I had to add corn starch and water at the end to make it work.  I'm thinking this is because there was just too much meat in the pan.  Probably should have just done 2 batches, but it didn't look like it was that much.  I also added oil so it would fry better with the extra meat, but I just ended up with a mess.

-It was also way too salty today.  I did NOT use reduced sodium except for maybe 1 Tablespoon at the end when I ran out of the regular I had in my fridge.  I definitely suggest using reduced sodium.  I've actually checked the recipe on the site I got it from to make sure I had no type-o.  I also may have over boiled the sauce because I boiled it for 2 minutes, not just cooked it for 2 minutes.  Probably wouldn't do that again either.  I also subbed a tiny bit of splenda for brown sugar, but that should not have made any difference.  However, saltiness was a total issue for me today.  Didn't seem to bother anyone else. 

Ingredients

• 1 lb steak
• 1/4 C cornstarch
• 3 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger or minced ginger
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic
• 1/2 C water
• 1/2 C soy sauce (I used low sodium)
• 1/2 C brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 3 green onions, sliced into 2-3″ pieces

Directions:

Dry off meat with a paper towel and slice into 1/4″ thick slices against the grain. Add to a bowl with the cornstarch and coat thoroughly.
Add 1 1/2 tsp oil to a wok or large frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and ginger, stir until fragrant. Add soy sauce, water, rice vinegar and brown sugar. Cook for about 2 minutes and remove from pan.
Add remaining 1 1/2 tsp oil to pan over high heat. Add the meat and cook until brown on all sides and slightly crispy. Pour sauce back into pan over meat. Add green onions, stir and remove from heat. Serve with rice. EnJOY!