Zha Jiang Noodles 炸醬麵

This is another happy cooking accident story......once we had a guest at home and made Zha Jiang Noodles for her. I was busy preparing different dishes so my husband helped me to heat up the sauce and served the noodles. We enjoyed the food and chatted happily with our guest.

When we were almost done with dinner, I realized my husband forgot to turn off the stove for the remaining sauce. It had been sitting there bubbling for the last 30 minutes or so! My first reaction was to give him a 'lecture' for being so careless. I thought the sauce was burnt and gone. However, to our surprise, the second batch of sauce turned out to be more delicious than the first, with a nice smoky flavor.

We realized we had unintentionally turned our zha jiang sauce from good to great. This is likely how the outside eateries do it - they make a large pot and leave the sauce to simmer for a period of time. The Chinese name for this dish literally means "fried sauce noodles" - indicating the sauce is fried in the pork fat and oil.

There are various ways to make this sauce based on different regions and preferences. I use mainly sweet bean paste (甜麵醬), and add a little spicy bean paste (辣豆瓣醬) to give the sauce an extra 'kick'. If you prefer the non-spicy version just replace the spicy bean paste with sweet bean paste. I also include extra firm tofu for a more interesting texture and flavor. This sauce tends to taste even better over the next few days. So I usually make a bigger portion and refrigerate (or freeze) the rest, as they make quick and easy meals later in the week. On its own, the sauce should taste quite rich and intense in flavor as it will be diluted once mixed with noodles and vegetables.

Recipe

Serves 6

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Sauce

400g (14 oz) ground pork, or pork belly (finely diced)

200g (7 oz) extra firm tofu (diced)

2 Tbsp cooking oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 cup scallion, chopped

3/4 cup sweet bean paste 甜麵醬

2 Tbsp spicy bean paste 辣豆瓣醬 (for non-spicy version, replace spicy with sweet bean paste)

3 Tbsp chinese rice wine (Shaoxing)

2 tsp sugar

1½ cups water

Others

700g (1.5 lb) noodles (I use Shan Dong dry noodles/山東拉麵, available at Asian supermarkets)

1 cucumber, shredded

1 carrot, shredded

Heat up 2 Tbsp oil in wok or large pan over medium-high heat, add ground pork (or finely diced pork belly) and pan-fry till lightly-browned and some fat is rendered. Add garlic, scallion and lightly-fry. Add sweet bean paste, spicy bean paste and fry till aromatic. Add chinese rice wine, sugar, water and tofu. 

Bring sauce to a boil and reduce heat to low (or medium-low) - it should gently bubble. Simmer sauce for about 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking or burning. The sauce should have a nice thick consistency when done, adjust heat if necessary to achieve right consistency.

Boil noodles (in batches if needed) in large pot of water (according to package instructions) when sauce is almost ready. Drain water from noodles well. Divide noodles and serve individual portions. Arrange some shredded cucumber and carrot over noodles, scoop sauce over the noodles and serve hot.