Ugh! Leftovers!
Won Ton Soup, Fried rice, Mongolian beef and fresh pineapple.
I have never been a leftover person. I like variety too much and I’m not a fan of reheated things. BUT! I’m okay if we can do something different. I’m sure with Thanksgiving approaching, you’re thinking of all the ways you can repurpose a bird and the other 10 pounds of ham you have leftover.
I think Chinese food works really well with leftovers, or leftovers work well as Chinese food, to be more precise.
Start with water or chicken broth….
Broth
3 cups chicken broth
2 lumps/cloves minced garlic
1 lump minced ginger
1½ tbsp light soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1½ tbsp Shaoxing Chinese Cooking wine or sherry
½ tsp sesame oil
Add in all the flavors!
Add bullion (I like Better Than Bullion) or start with broth. Add all the other ingredients.
Veggies I happened to have. The apples are just to eat later.
Clean out your crisper! I had Bok Choy, asparagus, Shimeji mushrooms and of course scallions. But darn near everything will work. This combo is pretty classic though.
Looks like soup!
Last step…add won tons. Tons of great frozen ones out there. I happened to have a bag of Bibigo, so more of a Korean flare this time out. No one is mad about it! But you can use whatever you have
Sure! Why not?
Looks like the real deal!
Now for the Mongolian Beef. I happen to have all this random stuff in the house. If you like a premade sauce, use it. But it’s really easy to do this once you have the genuine ingredients and you would be surprised how many other recipes you can make with them!
Mongolian Beef
5 green onions
5 lumps/cloves minced garlic
1 lump minced ginger
3 tbsp vegetable oil (Grapeseed)
12 oz or so leftover meat
1/2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
Mongolian Beef Sauce
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Chinese chicken bouillon powder
1/2 tsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light corn syrup
2 tbsp Shaoxing Chinese Cooking wine or sherry
Black pepper,
¼ cup water
1 tbsp Corn Starch
Use a whisk for the sauce!
Start with the liquid ingredients and add the others and whisk until smooth. You want the corn starch to thoroughly incorporate.
Slice up your leftover meat
Sauté!
Stir fry the onions, garlic, ginger and whatever else you want to put in your beef dish. I used some pea pods I had. Do this quick and hot for about a minute or so. Turn on the fan or all your smoke detectors will go off!
Reserve aside the tender green onion shoots, they look pretty and taste good as garnish.
Alchemy!
Add in the sauce. You’ll see it get thick and sticky before your eyes. Add the beef and the tender shoots of the scallions/green onions. Toss up and serve with left over rice, or fresh rice, or noodles. We’re all friends here.
Add a splash of sesame oil….for fragrance!
