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.
Before coming to Europe, I worked in Beijing for quite a few years and I consider it as my second home. In this vibrant city, you have the opportunity to explore amazing food from every corner of China (and increasingly more international cuisines too). However, traditional Beijing cuisine is always treasured by locals and migrants alike . Apart from the famous Peking duck, I love its signature noodle dish Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面) and often wandered around the back streets to look for humble little cafés which offer the most authentic versions of this dish (Check out my Culinary tour of China in which I will guide you to explore the best gastronomic life of Beijing city).
The literal meaning of Zha Jiang Mian is fried sauce noodles. Popular in Northern regions of China, this dish consists of three components: pork fried then simmered in a dark, thick and salty sauce, freshly cooked noodles and various types of vegetable. Among all the different versions of Zha Jiang Mian, I prefer the Beijing style in which yellow soybean paste is used as the main seasoning (sweet bean sauce, hoisin sauce or broad bean sauce are used in other versions).
Yellow soybean paste (黄豆酱) is a dark, thick paste made of fermented yellow soybeans, wheat, salt and water. Pungent, aromatic and salty, it’s the soul of Beijing Zha Jiang Mian. Yellow soybean paste comes in two forms: regular or dry. The latter contains less water, thus it has a pretty solid texture. I use dry paste (干黄酱) in my recipe. Adjust the volume if you wish to use the regular one (about 1.5 times of dry paste diluted with the same amount of water). Yellow soybean paste is available in most Chinese / Asian grocery shops. I usually buy dry paste made by a reputable Beijing brand called “Wang Zhi He (王致和)”. In my recipe, a small amount of sweet bean sauce (or hoisin sauce) is added for a hint of sweetness.
Diced pork is used in classic Beijing Zha Jiang Mian (pork belly or other part that contains some fat). Its small size allows you to cook it in a short period of time, yet it still gives you a nice bite. I’ve seen many recipes call for minced pork. It wouldn’t be my first choice. But it does save me time when I’m in a hurry (no chopping).
Knowing the principle of this dish, you are free to be creative with the ingredients. Why not try beef, lamb or chicken if you don’t fancy pork? And making Zha Jiang Mian a vegetarian dish is possible too. Tofu (firm ones) and shiitake mushroom would be great options.
Vegetables play an important role in Zha Jiang Mian. They are served either raw or quickly blanched, preserving the most of the nutrition. Without any additional seasoning, the natural plain taste of vegetables go very well with the salty, aromatic sauce, giving this dish a good balance. There are a wide range of vegetables that you can choose as topping: cucumber, beansprouts, radish, fresh green soybeans (aka edamame), Chinese cabbage, carrot, celery or any other vegetables with a crunchy texture.
Traditionally, Beijing cooks use homemade noodles in Zha Jiang Mian. Firm dough (made of plain flour, water and a pinch of salt) is rolled flat with a rolling pin, then cut into long, thick noodles. A pasta maker will be handy to achieve a similar result. I usually make hand-pulled noodles (as shown in photos) for this dish which also has a thick look and a slightly chewy texture. Shop-bought dried noodles are fine too. They are time-saving and stress-free.
Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面)
Ingredients
For the sauce:
- 4 tbsp dry yellow soybean paste
- 1 tbsp sweet bean sauce, or hoisin sauce
- 300 ml water, 1 ¼ cup
- 2 tbsp cooking oil
- 1 star anise
- 2 stalk scallions, chopped
- 1 tsp ginger, minced
- 200 g pork, diced, 7oz (see note 1)
- 1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine
For the vegetables
- 150 g beansprouts, 5oz
- 150 g fresh green soybeans/edamame, 5oz
- 1 large cucumber, julienned
- 6 radish, sliced
For the noodles
- 4 servings fresh or dried noodles, see note 2
Instructions
- 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
If you have a chance to visit Beijing, don’t forget to have a bowl of Zha Jiang Mian in an old Beijing (老北京) style restaurant. Meanwhile, give my recipe a try and enjoy the taste of Beijing in your own home!
Discover other classic Chinese noodle dishes by clicking the links below.
Happy cooking!
Other delicious noodle dishes:
Wei, This look so good… Another great post! One of my kiddos loves to put hoisin sauce on everything, so he would like this recipe!! 🙂
Thanks Heddi. I’m sure you all will love it. Soon Chinese food will be dominant on your dinning table, haha! Have a great week! X
Yeah it’s such a good recipe
Thank you and happy cooking!
Those noodles look so great! Thank you for sharing this recipe and its origins, I’ll be giving it a try for sure.
My pleasure!! Hope it will turn out great for you. Have a lovely day!
I have just returned to NZ from China so am looking forward to trying some recipes to recreate the flavours I so enjoyed – thank you
You are welcome Erin! I’ve just come back to China for my Culinary Tour of China and look forward to getting more inspirations for my blog.
Delicious! Originally wanted to leave one portion for tomorrow to take to work, … yum yum… it stood no chance! I discovered this blog just recently and I can without any hesitation state that unlike myriad of other sites the recipes here turned out what it meant to be. Truly authentic dish that I enjoyed during my stay in Beijing. My pregnant wife cannot stop eating what I cooked based on your recipes.
Hi Vlad! Thank you so much for your kind words! Very happy to know that my recipes brought you back nice memories of Beijing. I just came back from my Culinary Tour of China and my tour members really loved Zha Jiang Mian. Happy cooking!
Yummy dish… Thanks for sharing!
You are welcome Jing!
Any chance of the recipe and technique for the hand pulled noodles? : D
Thank you for reminding me! I will share it for sure.
Is it possible to use the Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce for this recipe? or is the paste needed?
Hi! You can use Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce for sure. It will be tasty but it can’t be called Beijing Zha Jiang Mian 🙂 Please be aware that it might have a different salt content. So adjust the amount accordingly. Happy cooking!
Awesome! Thank you! Have been making this for years, but since I live in Taiwan, some ingredients are not readily available. Have had to substitute. Making the noodles from scratch is also worth it, and easy if you have a simple noodle maker. I always look for a good place when in Beijing. Do you like Douzhi? I always look for 豆汁店 when I visit, as well. So many delicious things in those places. I like 錦馨 north of 天壇。老磁器口, close by is famous, but I don’t think it’s as good. Their douzhi is a little weird. I think they put in starch to thicken it. Not as sour.
Hi Vihren! Sounds like you know a lot about Beijing specialities. To be honest, I haven’t acquired a taste for Douzhi 豆汁 even if I have previously worked in Beijing for almost a decade. Maybe I should give it another try on my next trip to China.
Yesss I found all the bean paste and bean sauce as required for the dish. It’s absolutely delicious. 1 aspect throughout. I followed the recipe very strictly, I didnt achieve the lovely dark brown colour of the meat and thickness of the sauce as pictured above. The colour of the sauce right after diluting is very similar to yours . The end result is different. Would you have any suggestions?
Hi Paul! As the power of cookers varies, you might need to increase the cooking time. This way you will be able to reduce the water content in the sauce thus achieve a dark colour and a thicker texture. Hope this helps.
I’ve had them homemade a good amount of times, can’t wait to get all the ingredients and get back that Beijing-feeling ☺️
That’s great! Happy cooking!
Where do you get dry yellow bean paste from? I’m in U.K. and only see yellow bean sauce/paste. If I get the sauce should I change the proportion?
Hi Marty! I’ve found dry yellow bean paste in a Chinese shop in Coventry long time ago. Yes, yellow bean sauce is more accessible and you can surely use it to substitute. As the saltiness of yellow bean paste varies depending on the brand, I suggest you use 4 tbsp at first. Taste a little after 15 mins of simmering. Add more if necessary. Hope this helps.
I used 5tblsp and it was a bit too salty but the flavor was good. Hardest part was doing the hand pulled noodles. It’s hard to pull enough at a time. I need some practice
Practice makes perfect. You’ll master it soon Marty!