Mongolian Grill

One of our favorite restaurants is Chang's Mongolian Grill.  It is better than any other place like that by far.  We had our friends over a few weeks ago and decided to try our own.  It was really fast prep work with a food processor and I didn't have to cook ahead(except noodles), just laid it all out.  Then everyone put together their own meal and I had 2 hot frying pans with oil ready to go.  We each cooked our own dish as well, two at a time.  Everything was sliced so thin that it only took 3-4 minutes to cook each plate and it was a huge success.  So yummy.  Since you mix your own sauce at the restaurant, I knew exactly what I liked in it and it tasted just the same! It is a super fun and unique food/dining experience that can be done at home.  I highly recommend it for a small group stay-at-home activity.

Here are a few tips for making at-home Mongolian Grill:

1. Slice all your veggies in your food processor with a thin blade plate first which may include(we used the *):

*onions

*celery

*carrots

mushrooms

*cabbage

*green pepper

scallions

broccoli

zucchini

You can also use *pineapple,

 *bean sprouts,

*and cilantro

2. Process meats last (so you don't get your veggies gross). The major thing to know about slicing meat is to use slightly frozen meat(not solid) in your food processor so it can hold its shape for slicing. Meats may include:

*Beef

*Chicken

Shrimp

Fish

Lamb

Pork

Any other kind

3. For noodles you can use regular old spaghetti noodles.  Cook them a little past al dente and rinse with cold water.  Then toss them with cooking oil so they are ready for frying.

4.  You can be creative with the sauces but here are some ideas(if mixing sauce is intimidating for anyone, the Yoshida sauce is pretty fool proof):

*Yoshida sauce

*soy sauce

*diced garlic

*pureed ginger

*lime juice

*soy ginger dressing

*pineapple juice

salt water

sugar water

sesame oil

*hoisin sauce

dry spices

5. Serve with steamed rice, plum sauce and hot chile sauce.  I would love to find out where to buy the thin rice pancakes that they have at the restaurant, then it would have been perfect.