Vegan Mongolian Beef

Greetings, lovlies. I know I’ve been away for a while. Wrapped up in other projects and house hunting… We ALMOST bought a house. Whew. What a lot of work this is! I’ll spare you the gory details other than a quick warning and review… stay away from Hubzu.com! What a sham. They’re an online auction house for properties. I’ve never had my intelligence so underestimated and insulted. Seriously. Run away in the other direction from these shysters.

Getting back to something FAR more fun… cooking healthy food! This Mongolian “Beef” will make you swoon if you enjoy these sorts of spicy Chinese dishes. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I’ve made a couple of other recipes using Butler’s Soy Curls here and here. What I really like about soy curls is that they aren’t made with isolated soy protein or other weirdly processed ingredients. And I know many vegans use it but I don’t eat seitan because, let’s be honest here, it’s pure gluten. No thanks. Soy curls have only one ingredient: textured whole soybeans. How do they make them? I have no idea. But if you’re craving something meaty then check these guys out! Like tofu, they are pretty flavorless and so pick up the other flavors you are using in the recipe.

Ingredients:

4 oz. soy curls (½ bag) + water for soaking
½ cup water
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
¼ cup coconut or date sugar
1” knob ginger, grated
1 head roasted garlic, smashed into a paste (or 3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced) NOTE: I used fermented black garlic that I found at Trader Joes. OMGosh! So good.
½-1 tsp red chile flakes (to taste)

Directions:

Soak the soy curls in fresh water for a few hours until they are soft. Rinse well and squeeze out excess water. I chose only the larges pieces of the curls for the recipe, leaving behind the smaller bits, which I saved to use in a soup.
Combine the soy curls with all the remaining ingredients and let marinate for several hours or overnight in the fridge.
Simmer in a saucepan until hot.
Serve over brown rice or whole grain pasta.