Mongolian beef salad
(omnivore)

recipe by m-c

just the recipe

what I was looking for

something Mongolian

what I made

I started with the Beef-Sauced Hot Lettuce Salad in Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's Beyond the Great Wall (pp. 67 and 69). My method is a little easier than theirs, and I slipped in some leftover chile paste, as I'm sure any frugal Mongolian housewife would.

chit-chat

Mark and I are sumo fans. If you are too, you will understand that we had to have Bulgarian food the previous night to celebrate the first‑ever European tournament winner, a tall, handsome, pleasingly modest Bulgarian whose sumo name is Kotoōshū. I made kachamak, a loose polenta drowning in sheep cheese, with cucumber salad and radishes and plum jam on the side.

But the tournament was not over; sumo tournaments are not elimination contests -- everybody fights every day, and there was one more day to go. For the last night the only appropriate food in our house was Mongolian. Since both Asashōryū and Hakuhō are from Ulan Bator, the beef salad would fit no matter which one prevailed.

Asashōryū won, but he gave Hakuhō an unsportsmanlike shove after the match was already over, bringing shame and sorrow to his fans. I'll think twice before I make another Mongolian meal for him.

grades for my version

healthy	B	The beef makes it a treat food rather than an everyday food.
fast	A	Tearing the lettuce takes the most time, the rest is over in a blink.
easy	A	No great effort.
cheap	B	I used organic-certified beef, not cheap.
delicious	A	Wow.

yield

Serves two as the main dish of a supper with a little rice.

equipment

   a big bowl
   a little bowl
   a wok
   a long-handled pancake turner

the lettuce and chile paste

ingredients	A+D	m-c	why?
romaine lettuce	4 cups of torn leaves	4 cups of torn leaves	no change
chile paste	--	2 Tablespoons	cheaper [1]
Notes
[1]	What I mean by "cheaper" here is that I had a little bit of a beautiful chile paste left from cooking chile-smeared fish (A+D pp. 234-235). Using the paste here doesn't actually make this dish any cheaper, but finding a way to use every leftover is good kitchen practice and, in the long run, cheaper than throwing food away. The addition of the chile paste proved so successful that I'd use Sriracha in the future if I didn't have home-made chile paste on hand.

   Put the torn lettuce and the chile paste into a big salad bowl.

the sauce liquid

ingredients	A+D	m-c	why?
soy sauce	1 Tablespoon	1 Tablespoon	no change
vinegar	1 Tablespoon black rice vinegar	1 Tablespoon cane vinegar	easier [1]
thickener	1 Tablespoon water + 2 teaspoons cornstarch	2 Tablespoons pasta water	cheaper [2]
salt	to taste	to taste	no change
roasted sesame oil	½ teaspoon	1 teaspoon	tastier
Notes
[1]	I haven't been able to find black rice vinegar in any of my local stores. I'll mail-order some to add to my stash of Chinese ingredients.
[2]	Another frugality -- I had pasta water on hand and was planning to start a broth with it and the other half of the pound of hamburger.

   Put the soy sauce, vinegar, thickener, and salt into a small bowl and put the bowl close to where you're going to be using the wok.

Put the sesame oil bottle close to the salad bowl.

the sauce solids

ingredients	A+D	m-c	why?
peanut oil	1 Tablespoon	1 Tablespoon	no change
garlic	1 Tablespoon minced	6 Tablespoons chopped	easier
ginger	1 Tablespoon minced	6 Tablespoons chopped	easier
ground beef	½ pound	½ pound	no change

   Put the peanut oil, the garlic, and the ginger into the cold wok, and put the wok over a high flame. (Yes, I've started using my cold-pan technique with woks too.)

   Keep the garlic and ginger moving till the garlic starts to color, 30-40 seconds.

Add the ground beef and break it up. Again, keep the contents of the wok moving till the beef is mostly cooked, 2-3 minutes.

Then add the liquid, stir one last time, and pour the hot sauce over the lettuce and chile paste.

Add the dash of roasted sesame oil, stir the whole salad, and serve it immediately.

A+D point out that the contrast between the crunchy and the wilted textures of the lettuce is the heart of the dish. If you let it sit in the salad bowl, all the lettuce will wilt and the contrast will be gone.

go-withs

I've been serving the mixed brown rice that Lundberg markets as Countrywild ever since we had it at a Chinese restaurant we like. It's a medium-grain rice, longer than typical Chinese restaurant short-grain rice, with a delicious warm, mouth-filling taste.

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