A couple weeks ago during girl’s weekend, my Mom and I decided to pop into PF Changs for a delectable dinner out.
Right away we agreed to split an entree, as they’re usually plenty big enough for two. One order of my Mom’s favorite Chinese dish of all time – Mongolian Beef – comin’ right up!
The first bite was simply sensational. The thinly sliced beef melted in our mouths, while the consistency and taste of the subtly-sweet sauce was spot on.
It was nearly, dare I say, perfect.
Only nearly perfect though, because the teeny-tiny plate sitting on our table was hardly enough for one, AND it was overflowing with 5 times as many green onions as pieces of beef!
“Where’s the BEEF?!” we wanted to shout!
“I’m going to write a letter.” my Mom declared, in between bites of delectable but hard-to-find meat unearthed from an endless supply of green onions.
Oh, I haven’t told you? My Mom’s a letter writer. If you mess with her, she will totally tell someone about it.
“Mom, don’t write a letter.” I tried to reason with her. “This is clearly a travesty, but nobody at PFC’s gives a rip what we think,” knowing she’d write one anyways.
Which, obviously, she did. And, obviously, got a $25 gift certificate in the mail because of it!! “Uh-HUH!” she exclaimed when she ripped open the letter.
This recipe’s for you, Mom. May you never have to write another Mongolian Beef related letter ever again.
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Copycat PF Chang’s Mongolian Beef
Description
Copycat PF Chang's Mongolian Beef tastes just like PF Chang's version, but is made much healthier, and cheaper, at home!
Ingredients
- 1lb flank steak, sliced thinly against the grain
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2-1/2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1/2 bunch asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite-sized pieces
- 3 garlic cloves, grated or finely minced
- 1 inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated or finely minced
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce or gluten-free tamari (dish will not be GF if using soy sauce)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 3 green onions, cut into thirds
- cooked rice
Directions
- Toss the flank steak with cornstarch in a plastic bag until all the pieces are coated. Empty into a colander and shake off excess cornstarch. Set aside.
- Heat 1 Tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add asparagus and cook for 1 minute. Add in garlic and ginger, then immediately add in soy sauce or tamari, water and brown sugar. Turn heat down to medium and let the sauce simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the sauce mixture into a bowl and set aside.
- Heat 1-1/2 Tablespoons oil in the same skillet over high heat. Add the beef and cook, stirring every so often, until it is just barely cooked. Some pink still showing is ok. Add the sauce with asparagus back into the skillet, turn the heat down to medium-low, and simmer until sauce reaches your desired thickness.
- Stir in green onions and serve over rice.
This recipe is courtesy of Iowa Girl Eats, http://iowagirleats.com.
Why buy overpriced, undersized, nearly non-existent Mongolian Beef (chicken, or salmon!) at a restaurant, when you can easily make it at home?!
Enjoy!
Emily @ A Cambridge Story 07.27.2011
That beef looks truly incredible. Love the brown sugar and soy sauce combo!!
Mary 07.27.2011
That recipe looks amazing! I will have to try it soon. It reminded me of something I make pretty frequently that is super easy and delicious: .
Also, my mom is a letter writer too. She’s impressive, and I kinda want to learn her skills…
Hope 07.27.2011
I love Mongolian Beef from PF Changs! I am definitely going to have to try your recipe to replicate it! :) I am a total letter writter if I am unhappy about something. It’s worth giving your opinion.
Autumn @ Good Eats Girl 07.27.2011
The spoon in with the pans is something that my husband would totally do, too! Hilarious! I also am a dishwasher rearranger!!
Katie @ Pop Culture Cuisine 07.27.2011
I think I would also fall into the clean house, messy car category…my hubby often questions how this can be and I honestly never have a good response :)
Kierstan @ Life {and running} in Iowa 07.26.2011
I guess letter writing has its perks!
Ryah 07.26.2011
Yum, that looks good! I made home made cashew chicken tonight. :)
girliefriend 07.26.2011
O.M.Yum!!! I love mongolian beef! Thanks for this!
Nicole 07.26.2011
My sister is a big letter writer to complain about bad service/product. I do it once in awhile when I am truly disturbed or its that time of month when I get agitated easily. My favorite was complaining to Krispy Kreme that the chocolate glaze was so unevenly distributed amongst the doughnuts we got – some barely had any some were so overloaded – I even took pictures. Ended up getting a free dozen! Sometimes it is just nice to let them know what there stores are doing wrong, so they can fix it.
Julie S. 07.27.2011
OMG, I love this one!!
Em 07.26.2011
Adorable, hilarious post. Love it.
I am also OCD about home and office cleanliness. But couldn’t care less about car clutter! I think we all need at least one “tidy-free zone”! :)
Amanda @FancyOatmealBlog 07.26.2011
Seriously. If you want a new profession and don’t mind moving to both AK/MI for the year I’d love to have you as our personal chef. Amazing. Again =)
Lisa @ Life in Green 07.26.2011
i am just like you. Clean house dirty car. it gets sooo bad and i could care less. my bf actually cleans it cuz it will get to a point he cant stand. in an interview once i was told intelligent people have clean home and messy cars….i`ll go with that!
Iowa Girl Eats 07.26.2011
Ok I like this kind of rationalization. I’ll go with it!
Melissa 07.26.2011
Ok, so I’m the letter writer here. ha. Emails sometimes. And for the longest, my husband just shook his head at me when I threatened to make companies know I was not happy.
Until. ;)
We were trying to get work done on the van at Sears and our Sears is SO SLOW. Omg. I hate so bad going there. So we’re there, in line forever, and Sears staff is just chatting away and slacking. I see this little Sears-dedicated computer sitting to our side, so I tell my husband, “I’m going to complain. Brb.” And he’s laughing. So I go over there and start pounding out my fury and hit “Send.” Well, I kid you not, about a minute later, employees come pouring into the area! Even the manager whizzes through! It was probably a coincidence, but I just gave my husband a cocky look and he was super impressed by me. hahaha
And now my husband has a new-found respect for my complaining skillz. Now every time I get bothered, he goes, “Gonna complain?” You bet I am.
Iowa Girl Eats 07.26.2011
Ok that is awesome. Go you!!
Mac 07.26.2011
I love seeing the unique ways my bf loads the dishwasher, it is pure entertainment some days!
The Iowa Expat 07.26.2011
I will rearrange the dishwasher as well.
My hubby has to have the outside of his car clean, and I could care less. I need the inside clean–you know, the part *I* can see!
Rachel 07.26.2011
I’m a total car slob–I don’t even want to know how many candy wrappers there are stuffed into the pockets in the doors! And don’t get me started on my backseat…Between the clothes and all my son’s artwork from daycare…Yikes! The rest of my house kind of looks like that as well, except the kitchen. I keep the kitchen spotless!
Jane 07.26.2011
Haha, these are all so awesome! When my husband and I were on our honeymoon, we went to a restaurant and our waiter was drunk! We got there before the dinner rush, and we didn’t get our food til an hour and a half later! There were 3 other couples in our section that had the same problem and needless to say we got our meals comped. The funny thing is, he took our order, appeared to write it down, brought us drinks (wrong ones). They said he never even turned our order in, and when he tried to bring us stuff like side salads, he always had the wrong stuff! And he told us they were out of one of the sides, we told the manager this and he said they were never out of it!! It was crazy! I got really upset, we were starving and it was our honeymoon!! Needless to say, I didn’t need to write the company on that one :D My weirdness: any dish left in the sink has to be washed, sometimes my husband offers to do the dishes, but if he doesn’t do them in a timely fashion, I end up doing them because it drives me crazy! My husband has a thing about his books, as in DO NOT touch his books! I think it’s because he didn’t have a bedroom when he was a kid, so he had to keep his possessions tucked away from his brothers :)
Iowa Girl Eats 07.26.2011
Re: doing the dishes in a timely fashion – I am the SAME way!
MAC 07.26.2011
My wierd quirk is trying to find something that I know I should have-receipts, recipes, pieces of mail, paper things-I know I have it and can’t/won’t stop until I find it if it’s lost!
ktlovespie 07.26.2011
You always post the best recipes!
On another note, I can totally relate with the cleaning thing. I love keeping my house clean (I dust the door moldings…who does that?!) but only cleaned my car because my boyfriend made me. Full of dirt and dust and hay (My last job was on a horse farm). Sadly it didn’t last because a few days later there was garbage on the floor. I’m a car slob.
Dishes of Mrs. Fish 07.26.2011
My parents wrote a letter to Applebee’s once and the manager personally delivered a gift card to their house!
My biggest quirk is at work. I’m a teacher and I get so irritated when my students don’t put books back in our classroom library in a tidy way. I hate to see the books messy!