Beijing Soy Paste Noodles 炸酱面

🧂 Ingredients

• 600 g Pork belly

  , diced for lower fat versions, you may use any type of diced pork or ground pork which also works quite well and reduces cooking time
• 150 g Tofu puffs

  (optional), diced I like adding tofu puffs because it can absorb a lot of the sauce and makes each bite more flavorful. You can also use 300g of pressed tofu in addition or substitute it for some of the meat. Do not use soft tofu because it will fall apart during cooking
• 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

  to make it spicy, substitute 1 tbsp of soybean sauce/paste for hot soybean sauce/paste 辣豆瓣酱
• 1 tbsp Sweet paste (wheat) 甜面酱

  can be substituted with Hoisin sauce 海鲜酱
• 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

Instructions

• 1 Dice pork belly and tofu puffs into 1 cm cubes and separate fat cubes from lean
  cubes. Then set aside
• 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 Add leeks to pan and cook for 5 minutes on medium heat. Discard leeks leaving
  the rendered fat in the pan
• 4 Add shallots, garlic and chilis to the pan and cook for 5 minutes
• 5 Increase heat to medium high and add lean and fat pork to the pan. Stir well
• 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 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 Add sesame oil to the soy beans, mix and set aside You may add some sliced
  chilis and garlic for an added kick
• 9 Boil water and cook noodles
• 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 Add a teaspoon of the rendered pork fat (optional) into the bottom of each
  noodle bowl. Add noodles and mix with the fat
• 12 Put one ladle full of the meat sauce onto the noodles
• 13 Put the carrots, cucumbers and soy beans in the bowl or on a separate plate

Nutrition Info