Pork cubes cooked in a salty, fragrant sauce, then served with noodles and various vegetables, Zha Jiang Mian is a signature Beijing dish full of flavour and freshness.
In a bowl, dilute dry yellow soybean paste and sweet bean sauce (or hoisin sauce) with water. Set aside.
Heat up oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Add star anise, spring onion (the green part) and ginger. Leave to sizzle until fragrant. Stir in pork and rice wine. Cook until the pork becomes pale.
Pour in the diluted sauce. Bring it to a boil then leave to simmer for 20 minutes.
Then boil on full heat to thicken the sauce to the desired consistency. Stir in the white part of the scallions.
Blanch beansprouts and green soybeans in boiling water (cucumber and radish are served raw). Take them out then drain.
In the same pot, cook noodles. Drain and rinse under cold water for a few seconds.
Place the noodles in 4 serving bowls. Top with the sauce and vegetables.
Notes
1. For better taste, use the cut of pork that contains some fat. You may use minced pork as a substitute if you wish. It’s also possible to use beef, lamb, chicken, tofu or shiitake mushroom as the main ingredient.2. I usually use fresh hand-pulled noodles for this recipe. Dried noodles are good too (even Spaghetti works well). I cook about 100g/3.5 oz dried noodles for each person.3. Please feel free to choose other vegetables as topping. Chinese cabbage, carrot, celery are great too.