Vegan Mongolian Beef with Soy Curls
This vegan mongolian beef is a texture bonanza: crispy fried soy curls coated in a sticky sauce that yields such a tasty texture that you will not be able to stop eating this!
Servings: 4 -6 servings
Ingredients
- 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:
- 1/4 cup 60 mL soy sauce (I use low-sodium)
- 2 tbsp 30 g brown sugar
- 1/3 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)
Instructions
- To Fry The Soy Curls
- Preheat your oil in a large wok or pot to 350F (I bring it up to a 6 on my stove) .
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- Serve and enjoy! I like eating this with some rice and some stir-fried garlicky greens :D You can top with toasted sesame seeds for a little extra nuttiness too!
Notes
If you're opposed to frying, you could bake the soy curls instead until they're crisp, they just won't be the same level of crispy. It'll still be tasty but not quite the same. If you don't want to fry or bake that crispiness at all, you could omit the cornstarch step altogether and just add the soy curls directly to the sauce, but it will be very soft. Still tasty, but the texture won't be the same (and the texture is kind of what makes this dish so wildly good).