Zha Jiang Mian 炸酱面

[jo-mel]

I can't list any right now, as I have a fixation on Shanghai Noodles with that gravy consistancy that is sooo good. Nice big chewy noodles and a homey sauce!

OOPS -- I have to add Copper Well Street noodles to my list!

HZRT - What is your reason for adding the browned pork back into the Zha Jiang Mian at the end? To keep the flavor of the pork in itself rather than leaching into the sauce?

[Gary Soup]

I can't list any right now, as I have a fixation on Shanghai Noodles with that gravy consistancy that is sooo good. Nice big chewy noodles and a homey sauce!

Noodles with a gravy consistency? Can you elaborate on that?

[Qing]

I tried to cook Za Jiang Mian with Udon noodle, and it is tasted fine. Anyway, you can use any PLAIN taste noodles. I don’t think using spaghetti is a good idea, for it as same as the Cantonese egg noodle. They have flavors already.

[liuzhou]

The local Xi'an style restaurant here in Liuzhou has 炸酱拉面 and 刀削炸酱拉面, along with 'regular' 炸酱面 .

[hzrt8w]

HZRT - What is your reason for adding the browned pork back into the Zha Jiang Mian at the end? To keep the flavor of the pork in itself rather than leaching into the sauce?

It is a fairly common Chinese cooking technique called 走油 in Cantonese. I learned that it is called velveting from this forum. Basically meats taste better if you brown them alone in oil first before cooking with seasoning and sauces.

The key is actually that you should cook your sauces (brown bean sauce, hoisin sauce, etc.) in high heat along with the aromatics (garlic, shallot, onion and such), and dash in either some vinegar or xiaoxing wine -- get the wok/pan flame up would be even better. Then you add in chicken broth and sugar and bring to a boil. At last, thicken the sauce (corn starch) and re-add the meat (so it would not be overcooked) to finish. Then you drip on top sesame oil or shredded scallion. Most of the stir-fried dishes are cooked best this way.

If you have a chance, try the 2 different methods side by side. You should be able to observe the difference in the taste.

Also, forgot to mention previously: Zha Jian Mien is slightly hot/spicy. I use chili bean paste 豆板酱 along with brown bean sauce and hoisin sauce.

[hzrt8w]

I tried to cook Za Jiang Mian with Udon noodle, and it is tasted fine. Anyway, you can use any PLAIN taste noodles. I don’t think using spaghetti is a good idea, for it as same as the Cantonese egg noodle. They have flavors already.

Cantonese egg noodles and pasta in general use much more eggs than noodles from northern China (which give them the yellowish color). When you see a pack of noodles that are pure white, you know they contain no or very little eggs. The taste of "white" noodles is more plain but it is a good compliment to the more spicy sauces (e.g. Za Jiang Mian or Nanjing beef noodle) of northen style.

[BettyK]

I can't list any right now, as I have a fixation on Shanghai Noodles with that gravy consistancy that is sooo good. Nice big chewy noodles and a homey sauce!

DH loves Shanghai noodles. Do you have a good recipe?

[dmreed]

This is the one I use.  Some recipes seem to have either all hoisin or all brown bean, and some have a combo.  This is a combination of several recipes that I've come across. Not sweet, not salty, -----just right to my taste.

ZHA JIANG MIAN  ---------BEIJING NOODLES WITH MEAT SAUCE

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thanks for the recipe...I tried it tonight with just minor variations...I did not use the garlic chili paste because my wife cannot deal with the heat...she loved it and so did I. I added some homemade chili oil when I served my portion. I did not have fresh noodles so I boiled some dried chow mein noodles...I think next time I will just use spaghetti because I prefer the texture (I have used spaghetti with mapo dofu and it works just great).