hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Chinese comfort food classics with a shot at a Chinese “zha jiang mian,” or literally “fried sauce noodles,” which (as is often the case with many Chinese dishes) is just the most useless description ever. So, for those unfamiliar, a Chinese zhajiangmian is a meat sauce based noodle dish done with thick round lo mein noodles, ground pork, and any number of veggies depending on who’s cooking it, what region of the world you’re in, and whatever happens to be in season.

Today, we’re going to be doing ours with a fairly classic combination of zucchini, sweet white onion, and cucumber, but other common classic additions might include edamame, carrots, bean sprouts, eggplant and many more, so get creative and use your imagination for your own attempts. Most iconically however, a Chinese zhajiangmian must include two very important ingredients, the first being fermented black soy bean sauce or “douchi” (dough-chirr) which will form the basis of our sauce, and the second being a smoked and pressed firm tofu, to round out our proteins. It’s also worth mentioning that although today we are specifically taking a look at the Chinese zhajiangmian, you will also find that this dish appears across many food cultures in similar iterations, like the korean jajangmyeon or the Japanese jajamen, it is after all, not a very complicated concept, so not surprisingly, it appears all throughout Asian cuisine as well. Hope you try it.

 

Serves 2-3

INGREDIENTS

  • 4 cloves garlic

  • 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger

  • 1/2 lb ground pork

  • 9oz firm pressed tofu

  • 2 small zucchini

  • 1/2 medium white onion

  • 1 lb lo mein

  • 1/2 cup (about 2 inches) cucumber

  • corn starch slurry (2 tbsp corn starch + water)

INGREDIENTS (marinade)

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

  • 1 tsp white pepper

  • 1/2 tsp corn starch

INGREDIENTS (sauce)

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

  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar

  • 1 tbsp doubanjiang

  • 2 tbsp oyster sauce

  • 3 tbsp fermented black bean sauce

PREP

  • CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside

  • FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside

  • DICE the tofu, set aside

  • DICE the zucchini, set aside

  • DICE the onion, set aside

  • REMOVE the seeds from the cucumber, then julienne cut and set aside

  • COMBINE the ground pork with all marinade ingredients, then set aside for 30 minutes or up to 1 hour

  • COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside

ON THE STOVE

  • BOIL a pot of water, then add the lo mein for 2 minutes

  • REMOVE the noodles, then immediately place in an ice bath to halt the cooking process

  • HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil to a wok and long yao

  • ADD the zucchini and toss for 4 minutes until tender

  • ADD the onions and toss for 1 minute

  • ADD the tofu and toss to combine, then remove from heat

  • REHEAT the wok as hot as possible, then add an additional 4 tbsp of peanut oil and long yao

  • ADD the garlic and ginger, then toss until fragrant for about 15 seconds

  • ADD the ground pork and toss for 2-3 minutes until browned

  • ADD the veggies back to the wok, followed by the sauce mixture plus 1/4 cup water

  • TOSS to combine, then add the corn starch slurry until the sauce reaches desired thickness

  • SERVE the sauce over plain noodles, and garnish with cucumber

 

tagged with woo can cook, zhajiangmian, zha jiang mian, zhajiangmein, zha jiang mein, fried sauce noodles, chinese noodles, chinese cooking, chinese food