Gluten-Free Mongolian Beef

I love Chinese food and I love being able to cook a gluten free version of it myself.  Tonight, we found a recipe online for Mongolian Beef.  I was trying to make the one found at PF Changs, but I think my husband accidentally pulled the recipe from the wrong website so the one we made tasted nothing like the restaurant version.  I'll be trying that one soon, but in the meantime, the recipe we ended up making was pretty good, if not a little spicy. We pulled it from this website: http://www.celiac.com/articles/23254/1/Easy-Mongolian-Beef-Gluten-Free/Page1.html

Ingredients:

• 1 pound beef flank steak, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup gluten-free soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free hoisin sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil, separated
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 1-3 teaspoons red pepper flakes (as desired)
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• ½ white or yellow onion, sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced
• 1 cup cabbage, chopped thin
• 2 large green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, sliced thin

I went to one grocery store and called another and was unable to find a gluten free hoisin sauce.  So, i made it! Here's what I used, in case you want to make your own: 

• 4 tbsps gluten-free soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp peanut butter
• 2 tsp red wine vinegar (I only had rice wine vinegar, so I substituted it and it was fine)
• 1 clove minced garclic
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp crushed chili peppers  

Just mix them together and you have a similar enough sauce!  Just remember to use only what you need of this sauce since it makes way more than you need in the recipe.

Directions:
In a large bowl, whisk together soy sauce, hoisin sauce, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, sugar, garlic, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Mix beef with marinade, cover, and refrigerate at least one hour, and as long as overnight.

 

Heat 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a wok or large, nonstick skillet over high heat.

Add the onion, green onions, cabbage, carrot, and bell pepper, and cook about 10 seconds. I add more marinade as I add vegetables. A couple tablespoons usually does it.

Mix in the beef, and stir-fry about 5 minutes, until the beef begins to brown.

Serve over rice.

 

Thoughts: 

• TOO SPICY - Since we used crushed red pepper in the hoisin sauce AND the beef marinade, it was way too much.  Just be careful and use it to taste - not necessarily what it says in the recipe but what your mouth can handle! 
• We added mushrooms instead of red bell pepper for my own personal taste 

Overall, very tasty and too spicy. Next time, I'll dial back on the spice but I can definitely see us making this again.