hi hello everyone!! Tonight we're making my favorite Chinese noodle dish of all time, which is a "Zha Jiang Mian." Zha Jiang Mian is a meat sauce noodle dish that leans heavily on the use of chinese fermented black bean paste. The recipe I'm following today is one I wrote in an attempt to recreate the zha jiang mian that my dad used to make when I was a kid, which is why it definitely has some americanized elements involved.

Freshen up on the recipe here, bookmark the stream here, and pick up the ingredients below if you want to follow along and cook dinner with me.

INGREDIENTS

• 4 cloves garlic

• 4 tbsp ginger

• 1 carrot

• cucumber

• 4 strips bacon (thick cut)

• 8 oz egg noodles (or dried fettuccine)

• 8 oz ground pork (or any ground meat)

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

• 4 shiitake mushrooms

• 4 tbsp black bean sauce

• 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)

• 2 tbsp sesame oil

• 2 tbsp rice vinegar

• 2 tbsp shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)

• 1/4 cup chicken stock

• 1 star anise pod

• 2 tbsp soy sauce

• 2 tbsp hoisin sauce