Description
Restaurant quality Mongolian barbecue is easy to reproduce, but may take a little bit of practice. Just follow these steps and you’ll be enjoying that delicious stir-fry in no time.
Ingredients listed are per serving, so adjust accordingly. I typically cook 3 servings at a time because flank steak is sold in 1 lb. packages where I live.
Ingredients
1/3 lb. Flank Steak
2 1/2 oz. Linguine Noodles
2 Tbsp. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
1 Tsp. Oyster Sauce
1/2 – 3 Tsp. Chinese Red Pepper Flakes (adjust depending on potency)
4–5 Garlic Cloves, Peeled
Instructions
- Boil the pasta until noodles are cooked all the way through.
- Stop the cook immediately by placing the pasta into a strainer and running cool water over over the top. (You may also use ice to quickly lower the temperature.)
- Set pasta aside.
- Use a garlic press to press your garlic cloves into a paste.
- Combine the spices. Portion the spices according to a single serving, as you will be cooking one serving at a time.
- Once the spices are portioned out for each serving, set aside for later.
- Remove your steak from the freezer and place on a cutting board.
- Using a large knife, cut thin slices of steak, going against the grain. Make these slices as thin as you can.
- Preheat a cast iron or stainless steel skillet over high heat for two minutes.
- If indoors, turn on the kitchen exhaust fan.
- Add a single serving of noodles, steak, and spices to the pan. Stir immediately to prevent sticking.
- Continue stirring periodically – every fifteen to twenty seconds or so.
- Once the initial moisture has evaporated, add 1/4 cup of water and stir. (You may now wait for thirty seconds or longer between stirring.)
- Keep cooking and stirring until the water also evaporates and the food begins to stick.
- Remove from heat and serve. Repeat steps 10-13 for each additional serving.
Notes
The red chiles can vary widely in heat, so start out small and add more if desired.
After cooking the pasta, you may stir in a little bit of oil to keep the noodles from sticking to each other. This method adds calories though, so I don’t recommend it.
Adding peanut oil can increase that authentic restaurant flavor but will increase the calories as well.
Other kinds of noodle may work just as well, but linguine is my preferred choice.
If you lack a garlic press, simple chop up the garlic into extra-small pieces and crush with the broad side of your knife.
If the steak is wobbly or mushy when you go to cut it, it needs to freeze for longer. If it is too hard, it needs to thaw.