Mongolian Beef - Our First Jet Tila Dish

My first four dishes had been chosen and I had every intention of cooking one of them on New Year's Eve, but after all the effort that went into our shopping trip, I was still a little burnt out.  So, we cooked pizza and played games and I saved my cooking experiments for another day!  

That day, happened to be New Year's day.  And our first dish happened to be Mongolian Beef.  

Of course, I don't have a wok.  I once owned one, but that was back when I still tried to make things like stir-fry.  At some point, my wok became a campfire cooking vessel and eventually made its way to the landfill.  Still, I was not worried because Jet said I didn't need a wok.  Instead, I used my Rockroc.  

Prep was fairly easy.  I had more meat than suggested (2.25 lbs vs. 1.5 lbs), but I also had five hungry diners.  So, I doubled the sauce part of the recipe and the veggies, but left everything else the same.  Next time, I don't think I would double the sauce.  It was a little too saucy for me.  We also served this dish with rice (Jasmine because that's what I had). 

I was still not convinced that I had the correct sauces, but we went ahead and made the dish anyway.  I used the steak I had in my freezer, I think it was a combination of round-steak and top sirloin.  The recipe called for flank steak, but honestly, I can NEVER find that.  That might explain why the meat in mine looks so different from Jet's, but I'm not sure.  Next time, I'll try to find flank steak. 

The prep went quickly, but my son made the sauce for me and helped me cut the veggies. 

Good news, anyone can do the prep!  :)

The cooking part didn't go as well.  First of all, the pan I used might have worked better if I had used less meat, or did it in batches.  In fact, I'm sure it would have!  However, as soon as I put the meat into the pot, it began to boil.  So, instead of the one minute total cooking time (before adding additional ingredients), it took much longer, closer to five minutes.  After adding the veggies, the mixture let out a lot of water and resembled a stew.  Near the end, I took all the mixture out and dumped the liquid before adding the sauce mixture.  I was sure the meat would be tough, but in the end, it was tender.  

The sauce thickened quickly and the dish was done.  Probably 45 minutes start to finish.... I could have started the rice sooner.  

It was very good.  The flavor was great and we didn't even need to add extra salt (that is unheard of in our house).  I'm not convinced I don't need a wok, but I'm sure if I had just cooked the meat in batches, that would have been fine.  

In the end, it was an excellent starter dish and FINALLY I was able to cook out of a cookbook and make something tasty!