Delicious But Easy Dinner

Tonight, I was in some mood for some Chinese food; however, Tyler and I haven't found a good Chinese restaurant near us. I'm sure there are a bunch, we just haven't really looked into it. We were spoiled with U-Lee two blocks from Tyler's apartment in SF. At any rate, I found an AMAZING and EASY Mongolian Beef recipe and made brown sugar glazed carrots to go with the beef. It was so easy to make and sooooo delicious..this recipe is definitely a keeper!

Mongolian Beef served over White Rice (makes 2 servings)

You will need:

• 1 lb of flank steak, thinly sliced crosswise
• 1/4 cup of cornstarch
• 3 teaspoons of canola oil
• 1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger (about 1/2 inch piece)
• 1 tablespoon of chopped garlic (about 2 -3 large cloves)
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of soy sauce
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
• 3 large green onions, sliced crosswise into thirds

Directions:

1. 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 (see picture bellow).
2. 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.
3. 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. Add the green onions on the last minute so the green parts will stay green and the white parts crunchy.
4. Serve it hot with rice.

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

You will need:

• 16 ounces baby carrots
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup water
• dash salt
• pepper, to taste

Directions:

2. In a saucepan, combine the carrots with the rest of the ingredients.
3. Stir to blend ingredients.
4. Bring to a boil over high heat.
5. Reduce heat to medium and continue boiling (uncovered) for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until carrots are tender and the liquid has evaporated. (Note: It only took about 15 minutes for the carrots to cook. It could be because I chopped up my carrots.)