Delicious: Mongolian Beef

This is ridiculously close to the Mongolian Beef at Pei Wei, which just so happens to be my favorite dish there. In fact, it's so good, I've actually decided I can try other things when we do go to Pei Wei because I know I won't be missing out on the Mongolian Beef because I know I can now recreate it at home! Let's get started.

1 lb flank steak , thinly sliced crosswise

1/4 cup cornstarch

3 teaspoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece) - I minced mine.

1 tablespoon chopped garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (this made it a little spicy and thus different from Pei Wei but Matt said he actually preferred it spicy)

3 large green onions, sliced crosswise into thirds

First, make sure the steak slices are dry (pat them dry) and mix them with the corn starch. Using your hands or a spoon, move them around to make sure all pieces are coated. Place beef slices in a strainer and shake off excess corn starch.

Heat half of the oil in a large wok at medium-high and add the garlic and ginger. Immediately add the soy sauce, water, brown sugar and pepper flakes. Cook the sauce for about 2 minutes and transfer to a bowl. Don't worry if the sauce doesn't look thick enough at this point. The corn starch in the beef will thicken it up later.

Turn the heat up and add the remaining oil to the wok. Add the beef and cook, stirring until it is all browned (this is a quick thing). Pour the sauce back into the wok and let it cook along with the meat. Now you can choose to cook it down and reduce the sauce or leave it thinner.