Easy Mongolian Beef is a budget-friendly, delicious dinner of tender beef strips in a flavorful savory sauce with a hint of sweetness.
This simple homemade recipe brings the classic flavors of Chinese-American takeout to your home in less time than it normally takes for delivery!
And since it’s pork-free, dairy-free, and made without oyster sauce, it’s kosher too!
Mongolian beef is a delicious Chinese-American dish!
And this homemade recipe has the benefit of being made without pork, dairy, or even any oyster sauce!
It’s quick and simple to make, so it normally takes less time than ordering and delivery!
And this beef dinner great for your wallet!
Have it over rice to make it even more filling!
Also, beef has health benefits!
A little about Chinese-American Food
Chinese-American cuisine is a style of Chinese cuisine that was developed by Chinese Americans. These dishes significantly differ from traditional Chinese dishes because Chinese-American dishes were adapted to suit American tastes.
Chinese immigrants arrived in the United States in large numbers in the mid-19th century in order to escape the economic difficulties in China, hoping to find work during the California Gold Rush and on the Central Pacific Railroad.
They mostly settled together in ghettos, individually known as Chinatown, and—since there were laws preventing them from owning their own land—they opened their own businesses, such as laundry services and restaurants.
Initially, the family-owned businesses catered to miners and railroad workers, and restaurants were set up in places where Chinese food was unknown. Food was based on the requests of the customers, and recipes were created to suit American tastes using whatever ingredients were available.
One major difference between traditional Chinese cuisine and Chinese-American cuisine is in the use of vegetables. Chinese-American recipes will use raw or uncooked ingredients and those not native to China. Traditional Chinese cuisine, on the other hand, rarely contains raw or uncooked ingredients and often uses Asian leaf vegetables.
While the new dishes were not traditional Chinese, these restaurants were responsible for the development of the ever-popular Chinese-American cuisine.
The little history of kosher Chinese-American Food
It is well known that Jews (especially those with ties to New York) love Chinese food.
There is a popular joke, which has been passed around for many years, that describes the Jewish dependency on Chinese food: “According to the Jewish calendar, the year is 5749. According to the Chinese calendar, the year is 4687. That means for 1,062 years, the Jews went without Chinese food.” That was back in 1989, and who knows when the joke even started?
Jews as a group were probably first introduced to Chinese food in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where immigrants of various cultures settled in their own neighborhoods in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
By the early 1900s, approximately one million Jews from Eastern Europe lived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan with approximately 7,000 Cantonese Chinese, most of whom had moved from California where they had been because of the gold rush.
Due to anti-Chinese laws and acts, which prevented them from competing with whites, many Chinese had opened restaurants and they brought trade with them when they moved.
Chinese food was very popular and Jews who didn’t keep kosher frequented the restaurants that were open on Sundays.
But what about Jews who did keep kosher?
It took decades, but finally a ccreative Jewish, kosher deli owner found a solution.
Sol Bernstein, the owner of Schmulka Bernstein’s—a deli he owned and named after his father—was the originator of kosher Chinese food and he used Cantonese Chinese recipes substituting kosher veal, beef, and chicken livers for pork.
He sold the kosher Chinese (or deli-Chinese) alongside the deli food and his menu became very popular. He changed the name of the deli to Bernstein on Essex to make it sound more upper class Manhattan, but everyone always knew the deli as Schmulka Bernstein’s anyway.
The deli continued to prosper until he died in 1992, when it was sold.
If you love Chinese-American food and keep kosher or just otherwise don’t eat pork or shellfish, but don’t have a suitable restaurant or takeout near you, or if you just don’t want to pay the high prices they charge, then you should totally try these other homemade kosher Chinese-American recipes!
- Kosher Beef and Broccoli
- Kosher Chicken and Broccoli
- Kosher Pepper Steak
- Kosher Mongolian Chicken
- Kosher Corned Beef & Cabbage Egg Rolls
- Kosher Chicken Lo Mein
- Kosher Beef Lo Mein
- Kosher General Tso’s Chicken
- Kosher Chicken Fried Rice
- Vegetarian Fried Rice
- Kosher Chicken Chow Mein
- Kosher Beef Chow Mein
- Kosher Egg Drop Soup
Easy Kosher Mongolian Beef (no pork, no dairy, no oyster sauce)
Easy and delicious Chinese-American beef dish made without pork, dairy, or shellfish.
Ingredients
Meat
- 1 pound kosher beef, such as ribeye, sirloin or something that cooks quickly
- 1/2 cup flour or corn starch
- 1/2 tablespoon salt
- 2 green onions, sliced into 1 inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon black pepper (optional)
- Oil for frying
Sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon granulated garlic or 1/2 teaspoon powdered garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
- 1 teaspoon chicken consume powder
- 1/4 cup water
- 1.5 teaspoons pepper flakes (optional)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil or cooking oil
Instructions
- Slice meat into strips of approximately 1 inch x 1.5 inch strips, 1/4 inch thick (they do not have to be exact).
- Mix together flour or cornflour, salt, and pepper (optional)
- Place pieces of meat in mixture and coat very well.
- Pour oil into a frying pan just to cover the bottom and heat on medium heat.
- Fry coated meat pieces on medium heat until they have browned and are crispy. Do not crowd the pan - fry in batches if necessary. Set aside prepared pieces.
- In a separate frying pan, mix soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, chicken consume powder, water, oil, and chili peppers flakes (optional),
- Cook on a medium heat just until the mixture becomes a thick sauce (this should happen fairly quickly).
- Turn off heat.
- Add meat pieces and cut green onions.
- Toss or stir gently until evenly coated.
Notes
To ensure this dish is kosher, make sure that not only the chicken is kosher but that there is no question about any of the other ingredients as well.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 641Total Fat: 38gSaturated Fat: 13gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 22gCholesterol: 162mgSodium: 1699mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 52g