Vegan Mongolian Beef with Soy Curls from the vietvegan.com

 


  • Oil for frying (2 inches in a large pot)
  • 227 g soy curls (a full bag)
  • 4 cups boiling water (or just to cover the soy curls)
  • 2 tbsp (15 mL) mushroom broth powder
  • ~3/4 cup to 1 cup (approx 200-256 g) corn starch or tapioca starch

For the Sauce:

  • 1/3 cup (80 mL) soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp (30 g) brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup (60 mL) water
  • 2 tbsp (16 g) cornstarch
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) dark soy sauce
  • 2 tsp (10 mL) chili flakes (go to 1-2 tbsp if you like it really spicy)
  • 2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
  • 1-2 inches of ginger (30 g) finely minced
  • 4-5 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 3 sprigs green onions, greens cut into 1-inch segments (whites not used for this recipe, but you can put them in water to grow them)

Fry The Soy Curls

  1. Preheat your oil in a large wok or pot to 350F (I bring it up to a 6 on my stove) .
  2. In a large bowl, rehydrate the soy curls in boiling water + mushroom broth powder (or just veggie broth if you have that). Let rehydrate for 5-10 minutes, then squeeze as much water out of it as you can. 
  3. Dredge the rehydrated soy curls in cornstarch until coated well, shake off any excess and fry in the oil until crispy. Fry in small batches so you don’t overcrowd the oil and bring down the temperature too quickly (otherwise you’ll fry for too long and it’ll be really oily). Gently stir the soy curls in the oil while cooking to turn and cook them evenly, and remove to let drain on a wire rack or paper towel once golden and crisp. Repeat in batches until all soy curls are cooked.

To make the dish

  1. Prepare the sauce by combining soy sauce, brown sugar, dark soy sauce, cornstarch, water, and chili flakes in a bowl. Stir well to combine and try to dissolve most of the sugar. Set aside.
  2. Using either the same wok (removing all but 2 tbsp of oil) or in another pan with oil, and frying ginger for about 2 minutes until fragrant. Add the garlic and fry for another minute. Add the sauce mixture to the pan and stir constantly to cook through. Let the mixture come to a bubble and thicken for about a minute.
  3. Add the fried soy curls to the sauce and stir well to coat. It might not look like the sauce is enough to coat everything, but as the soy curls soften slightly with the sauce, the sauce should be able to coat all the soy curls. As soon as everything is coated, add the green onions and stir to cook the greens through.