Waking Up My Wok : Mongolian Beef

Recently while watching videos on Youtube, I chanced upon Made With Lau. The first video that got my attention was their Beef Chow Fun. Then came Mongolian Beef.

You bet, that got my attention. With Daddy Lau (as the Lau patriarch is affectionately known) a Chinese chef with more than 50 years experience at the helm, we can trust that the recipes (well maybe slightly adapted to the American palate) and techniques are the real deal.

One of the things I learnt is how to tenderize beef and the trick is - baking soda! What a revelation as I only know the application of baking soda in, obviously, baking and as a deodorizer.

Another technique that is commonly used in Chinese restaurants is quick blanching of meat in very hot oil. Yup, it is scary the amount of oil used but that's the method to get the meat really tender and not overcooked.

So feeling adventurous with hints of my cooking mojo kicking in, I told myself - I must cook Mongku Ngau Yoke! And with that, my wok woke up from hibernation.

It so happened that I had a piece of frozen beef tenderloin in my freezer (how long it has been in there, don't ask me).

I remember I bought it via Grabmart from VS Frozen Foods, a frozen food supplier in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. On Thursday evening I took the frozen beef to the fridge for it to defrost overnight.

I had already bought the red and green capsicum the previous weekend and on Friday, I was all ready to wok it out. 

Quite frankly, when I got down to it, this dish is not difficult to execute at all. First you slice the beef (making sure to slice against the grain) and then you soak it in water for a little while to get rid of excess blood.

While that is happening, make the marinade - common ingredients which most of us have in our kitchen - baking soda (not so common to some), cornstarch, oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce and pepper. Mix with some water and the marinade is ready.

Then drain the beef, squeezing out the water and then put it into the marinade and mix to coat. Set it aside.

After that you make the sauce (which Daddy Lau refers to as saucie which is so cute) - again oyster sauce, light soy sauce, dark soy sauce, chili paste (optional), sugar and cooking wine.

Next slice up the onion, capsicum/bell peppers, spring onions and chop up the garlic.

What I found interesting is the addition of oil into the marinated beef just before cooking. After that more cornstarch is mixed in.

The challenge for me was frying the marinated beef in a whole lot of hot oil. I conquered my fears and I did it. It doesn't take long for the beef to cook and you quickly remove it from the wok to drain.

Next comes the easy part - remove the excess oil from the wok and stir fry the garlic, spring onions and capsicum - add the beef, add the sauce and stir away! Then as a finishing touch - a drizzle of sesame oil.

What do you get?

This.

Oh my! The beef was betul-betul tender and silky and melt in your mouth. I can't believe I cooked this. I ate two plates of rice that day. Tsk! Tsk!

For the recipe and video, please hop over to Made With Lau. I am not putting the recipe here because I just adapted and eyeballed the ingredients. So it won't be proper to put up an adapted recipe without accurate measurements.