Zha jiang mian which is commonly known as “bean paste noodle” is a classic Chinese noodle dish. I love a good bowl of zha jiang mian anytime but the ones I have had outside are always too salty for me.
Due to the circuit-breaker measures in response to the vivid-19 pandemic, I had to take a few days of no-pay leave. Since I have some spare time, I thought I’d try to make zha jiang mian at home.
I found a quite a number or recipes online and they don’t look too difficult. This is going to taste slightly different from those sold outside, but this is definitely more healthy and just as (or even more) delicious.
These are the ingredients you will need, all of which can be found in wet markets and supermarkets in Singapore:
500g Uncooked Noodles (sheng
500g Minced Meat
3 Mushrooms
112g (1/2 block) Tau Kwa (豆干)
1 small Onion
2 pieces of Garlic
3 tablespoons Tou Cheong (豆酱)
1 tablespoon Honey
1 teaspoon Dark Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Light Soy Sauce
1 teaspoon Corn Starch
100ml of water
2 tablespoons Cooking Oil
Steps for cooking Zha Jiang Mian:
1. Combine minced meat with dark soy sauce and light soy sauce, let the meat marinate for 15 minutes.
2. Dice mushrooms and tau kwa.
3. Mince garlic and thinly slice small onion.
4. Mix corn starch with water and stir until dissolved.
5. Heat up saucepan, put in cooking oil.
6. Put in minced garlic and sliced onions, let them sizzle till garlic becomes slightly browned.
7. Put in the diced mushroom and tau kwa, fry until the tau kwa is slightly browned.
8. Put in the marinated minced meat, quickly move the meat around so it doesn’t clump together.
9. Add in tou cheong and honey, mix well with the rest of ingredients.
10. Add in corn starch water.
11. Cover the pot and let the meat sauce simmer over small fire.
12. Half fill another big pot with water, put the uncooked noodles in boiling water. Run cooked noodles under cold water.
13. Serve with cucumber strips.
Try it out and let me know how it turns out.