Mongolian Venison (PF Chang’s Style Recipe)

Directions

• Freeze backstrap steak, uncovered, for about 45 minutes (just until they’re pretty firm, but not frozen solid).
• Chop red bell pepper into small rectangles. Use as much as you like in the dish, but I recommend about 1/3 of a cup of these small rectangles.
• Trim the darker green parts of the scallions away from the harder white parts. Cut the darker green parts into 1-inch lengths. Slice and then finely chop the white parts.
• Thinly slice steak with a sharp knife, against the grain and at an angle.
• Velvet the steak: Stir 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda into 1 1/4 cup of cold water. Submerge venison strips in that solution in a bowl. Leave on the counter for 15 minutes. Then, rinse the meat in a colander and pat dry with paper towels.
• Season the meat strips with Kosher salt and black pepper. Then coat in a very light dusting of cornstarch, making sure to cover all sides of each strip of meat.
• Pour 2 inches of vegetable oil into a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Heat the oil to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Fry the steak strips in the hot oil. Do this in small batches, to avoid over-crowding the pan. Each batch should only take a minute or so before the strips are ready to be removed. Set the cooked strips on a wire rack to drip.
• Heat some olive oil over medium-high heat in a wok or large skillet. Add red bell pepper pieces and cook for a few minutes until tender.
• Combine 3/4 cup of water, the soy sauce, and the brown sugar in a bowl.
• When bell peppers are slightly tender, add garlic, ginger, red pepper flakes, and the chopped white parts of the scallions to the wok. Stir and cook for a minute (don’t take your eyes off of it at this step, or the garlic or ginger may start to burn).
• Pour the water/soy/brown sugar into the wok, and thoroughly whisk everything together.
• Turn heat to medium-low, and let the sauce simmer for 10 minutes.
• Make a simple slurry by mixing 3 teaspoons of cold water with 3 teaspoons of cornstarch. Pour the mixture into the sauce, and stir thoroughly. This will help thicken up the sauce to the right consistency.
• Add the cooked venison strips and darker green parts of the scallions, and stir into sauce. Let cook for 3 minutes.
• Serve with noodles or rice. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (optional).