Quick Lunch Series - Zha Jiang Mian or Beijing Noodles

När jag gick till min kompis, Daynys (från Philippines) fest, träffade jag med hennes man som frågade mig om Beijing nudlar. Han tog ut från sin planbok ett papper. Det fanns några kinesiska ord för att det är en recept till Beijing nudlar. Hennes man gick till Beijing en lång tid sedan och smackade Beijing nudlar, men han kan inte hitta 'yellow bean sauce' i Sverige. Jag förklara att det är inte gul bönor men det är lite mörk för att det är jäsning sojaböna det man kan hitta i Asien affären i Sverige. Jag sökt på Google för att jag visste det på annat namn - Zha Jiang Mian or Mixed Sauce nudlar. Man kan också kallas den hör Kinesiska Bolognaise för att det är lite liksom, bara olika sas. Jag har lagade Beijing nudlar till de i förra fredag först gang och det smacka bra!

When I went to my friend, Dayny (from Philippines) birthday party, I met her husband who asked me about Beijing noodles. He took out from his wallet a piece of paper on which I can see a few Chinese words. It's a recipe for Beijing noodles, the kind he tasted when he was there a while ago. There was a 'yellow bean sauce' written on it, which you can't find in a normal Swedish supermarket. Yellow bean sauce  or Huang Dou Jiang is actually fermented soy beans which is actually darkish in color and comes in a bottle. We normally use it to cook fish, along with some ginger at home in Singapore. I tried searching the internet for the recipe because I know it by the other name, Zha Jiang Mian but I think its alright to think of it like a Chinese bolognaise because the method is similar, just the sauce that is used is different. I cooked it last week to them and it tasted pretty nice! This goes under the Quick Lunch series because it takes about 15-20 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients
300g minced meat (beef or pork) 
1 clove of garlic, minced finely
1 shallot, minced finely
2.5 tablespoon of bean sauce
pepper and sugar to taste
3 tablespoon of water
sesame seed oil
Half a cucumber, julienne thinly
Dried egg noodles, enough for 2-3 persons

Steps

1. Start the water to cook the noodles while you prepare the other ingredients.
2. Heat up about 2 tablespoon of cooking oil over medium heat and fry the garlic and shallot till slightly brown and fragrant, then add in about 2.5 tablespoon of bean sauce and mix it well together before adding the minced meat. Note that the bean sauce is quite salty, so you might need to vary the amount according to taste.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Stir fry the minced meat mixture until it is well mixed with the bean sauce, then add in some pepper, sugar and water to simmer for about 2-3 minutes or until your noodles is done.
   
   
   
4. If you have sesame seed oil, use about 2 teaspoon to one bowl of noodles to toss it before topping it with the meat mixture and cucumber on top. Serve hot, to eat, just invite your guest to stir it up.