Beijing Soy Paste Noodles 炸酱面

Ingredients

• 600 g Pork belly
• 150 g Tofu puffs
• 50 g Leeks (, sliced into large pieces)
• 1-2 Thai chilies (, chopped (optional))
• 4 cloves Garlic (, chopped)
• 1-2 Shallots (, chopped)
• 2 tbsp Soybean sauce/paste 黄豆瓣酱
• 1 tbsp Sweet paste (wheat) 甜面酱
• 1 tbsp Sugar
• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 1 c Water
• 1 tsp Oil
• 1 Carrot (, finely sliced into narrow strips)
• 1 Cucumber (, finely sliced into narrow strips)
• 1 c Soy beans (edamame beans)
• 1 tsp Sesame oil
• 6 portions Your favorite noodles

Steps

1. 1

   Dice pork belly and tofu puffs into 1 cm cubes and separate fat cubes from lean cubes. Then set aside

2. 2

   Add 1 tsp of oil to the pan and add the fat pork belly cubes, cook at low heat for 10-15 minutes until they shrink approx. 25%. Remove fat cubes from pan

3. 3

   Add leeks to pan and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Discard leeks leaving the rendered fat in the pan

4. 4

   Add shallots, garlic and chilis to the pan and cook for 5 minutes

5. 5

   Increase heat to medium high and add lean and fat pork to the pan. Stir well

6. 6

   When meat is lightly golden, add 2 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 2 tbsp yellow soy paste, 1 tbsp sweet paste, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce and 1 cup water (or enough to cover the meat and tofu) into the pan. Turn down heat to low and cook with lid for 40 minutes or until meat is tender. Stir every 10-15 minutes. Add more water if water has evaporated If using ground pork, cook for around 10 minutes or until tofu puffs are not chewy

7. 7

   You can use this time to slice your accompanying vegetables You can serve the vegetables on a separate dish or together in the same bowl

8. 8

   Add sesame oil to the soy beans, mix and set aside You may add some sliced chilis and garlic for an added kick

9. 9

   Boil water and cook noodles

10. 10

    Use a ladle and spoon out the top layer of oil it’s your preference how much fat you want to keep in the pan I typically try to remove as much of the oil as possible and I will mix one teaspoon of the fat into each bowl of noodles before adding the meat sauce to prevent the noodles from sticking to each other

11. 11

    Add a teaspoon of the rendered pork fat (optional) into the bottom of each noodle bowl. Add noodles and mix with the fat

12. 12

    Put one ladle full of the meat sauce onto the noodles

13. 13

    Put the carrots, cucumbers and soy beans in the bowl or on a separate plate