I didn’t know what to call this dish. I don’t think I even know what a true traditional mongolian beef or even if it is a traditional dish, and allegedly not even mongolian, but I’ve had it at chinese restaurants and every time I’ve devoured it. I did some research on the web only to find, as per usual, tons of different variations and descriptions. My dish reminded me of it right away while I was eating it. The last post, beef tongue escabeche, left me with plenty of leftovers. One really great way to reuse them, a quick stir fry of the meat cubed, some sugar, some fish sauce, scallions and your in business. This my Mongolian Beef Tongue Twister! enjoy!
Ingredients:
Tongue:
1 cooked and marinated beef tongue, skinned and cut into small dices.
1 Tbsp turbinado sugar or brown sugar
1 Tbsp Peanut oil
1 Tbsp AP flour or cornstarch
2 Tsp Hot chili sauce like sriracha
3 scallions finely sliced
1 Tsp thai fish sauce
1 Tsp toasted sesame seeds
Chopped cilantro to garnish
Rice:
1/2 cup thai jasmine rice
2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp butter
Dealing with the tongue cooking is probably the only tricky thing here, and quite honestly it’s not really that difficult. You can check my previous post on beef tongue escabeche for some pointers on how to deal with this crazy looking thing! Once you have the tongue cooked and skinned, dice it in little cubes, about 1/2 inch thick. Heat up the peanut oil on a large skillet. I used a enamel pot which works incredibly well. When the oil shimmers, add the tongue cubes and spread them out into a single layer and let sear. About 30 seconds to a minute. Stir the cubes around and try to get the other sides to sear as well. Don’t worry if you don’t get them all but do pay attention to what’s happening at the bottom of the pan. Any brown bits should be scraped off with a wooden spatula, don’t let them burn, this brown bits are the key to develop that intense flavor we’re looking for (yes, all that brown goodness has to stay in the pot). Deglaze the pan with a little water or some of the fish sauce, scrape off as much “fond” as you can. Add the sugar and the flour, reduce the heat to medium low and cook away, let the sugar glaze the tongue cubes and turn darker and darker until you’re happy with it. The darker.. the more bitter the flavor, but in a good way. There will be plenty of sweetness as long as the sugar doesn’t burn. Add the rest of the fish sauce, and this wonderful thick dark golden glaze now coats all the meat. You might need to add a little water, and don’t worry if your pot goes a little runny, water can always be cooked off. Turn the heat off. Add the toasted sesame seeds, the coriander and the green onion (scallion). Add the hot sauce. Stir well. Done.
At the same time, the rice can be cooked. It is super straight forward to make. Some people wash their rice, i don’t think jasmine rice has that much starch to begin with and I like to cook it with plenty of water, so any excess starch will rinse off in the end. Add the rice to a pot over medium high heat. Cook the rice slightly, don’t burn it… you’ll notice how the grains turn less translucent and more white. Add double the volume of rice in water and then some. Bring to a boil. Add the fish sauce and the garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes checking for doneness. The rice should have plenty of water to roil around. This rice cooks very quickly so keep an eye on it. Once cooked, turn off the heat, rinse return to the pot. Add the butter. Stir to coat evenly and reserve.
To serve, just simply place rice in a bowl, making a bed for the tongue cubes. Spoon some of the cubes over the rice, maybe add a few more cilantro leaves and that’s it. That’s my recipe today. Thanks for stopping by!
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21 comments
Wonderful color and caramelization. This looks so so so very good!:)
so glad you liked it! thank you so much!
I just wrote that I hadn’t tried tongue, gosh you seem like an expert on this. It looks wonderful, congratulations.
🙂 thank you! I’m definitely not an expert! just trying to make dinner out of the things I have in my fridge, I don’t like to throw things away! I feel bad enough just eating the poor cow’s tongue!
another tongue recipe, and this looks delicious!
hahah 🙂 thank you! this is the last one! at least in a long while! done with this tongue theme!
Well, I will admit it does look good and I would try it. But tongue (and brains) are not high on my favorites list. You did a remarkable job here though.
thanks Wendy! I hear you though, tongue, brains, it’s difficult to stomach the concept of eating certain things, I wonder if it’s because of the visual or because of the flavor… I haven’t have brains yet, but it’s on the list of things to experiment with.
Really creative use of beef tongue! I’ve gotta try your recipe for sauce. Looks great!
I do resonate with you on the naming of “Mongolian beef”. Honestly I don’t think I ever heard of it in China or Taiwan. I am inclining to say that’s another American-Chinese dish that a clever Chinese Chef created. But it’s surely tasty!
thank you! Yeah, i think the wikipedia explains that it might have been an american invention, but who can resist that spicy dark sweet beef dish.. its so delicious!
Sorry, Paul. I just can’t get my head around the “cleaning and skinning” of the tongue. If i could buy it already diced/chopped, I’d give it a try. As it is, I’ll just look for it on restaurants’ menus. You did prepare a beautiful dish, though, and I’d gladly join you for dinner. Just don’t ask me to give a hand in the kitchen. 🙂
I hear yah! it can be pretty graphic skinning and trimming the tongue, I’m not gonna lie hahahaha, so I totally understand people not wanting to do it. Thing is, the tongue needs to be boiled in order for the thick skin loosen up, I can’t imagine how you’d do this with a raw tongue unless your butcher is super skilled:) thank you for the nice comments John!
This looks great, Paul! When I first read the title of your post, I thought the beef tongue itself came from Mongolia 😉 It’s probably safe to assume fish sauce is not used in Mongolia, but that doesn’t mean it’s not delicious.
no mongolian beef, no matter what part of the cow is in question, would probably not come from a mongolian cow 🙂 just saying…. I’m glad you liked this post, Stefan, thank you!
I think I was travelling during your tongue experimentations. Bravo! I adore tongue.
thanks Susan! I really like it, i think it is highly unappreciated! It does take some work to prepare.
This is such a unique recipe – and a new way to use tongue!
hi Shanna, thanks for your nice comment, glad you enjoyed this post!! 🙂
I did! I have only had tongue in sandwiches at Jewish deli’s – this is so creative and the preparation looks like a nice way to keep the tongue tender! Great photography, too. I can see you have a passion for taking food photos. 🙂
thank you! yes, I really love photography and I’ve been taking photos for a while now, more like travel photography, but photographing food is something I started doing recently. I think starting this food blog got me excited about it (not so much in the very beginning, took some time) and seeing food bloggers post beautiful photography is always inspiring as well as drooling over my keyboard when browsing pinterest 🙂
relinking thoughtfulness