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.
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 (see image above). 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 tablespoon dry yellow soybean paste
- 1 tablespoon sweet bean sauce - or hoisin sauce
- 300 ml water - 1 ¼ cup
- 2 tablespoon cooking oil
- 1 star anise
- 2 stalk scallions - chopped
- 1 teaspoon ginger - minced
- 200 g pork, diced - 7oz (see note 1)
- 1 teaspoon 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
NUTRITION
NUTRITION DISCLOSURE: Nutritional information on this website is provided as a courtesy to readers. It should be considered estimates. Please use your own brand nutritional values or your preferred nutrition calculator to double check against our estimates.
丽娜 says
I’ve had them homemade a good amount of times, can’t wait to get all the ingredients and get back that Beijing-feeling ☺️
Wei @ Red House Spice says
That’s great! Happy cooking!
Paul says
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?
Wei @ Red House Spice says
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.
Vihren Dimitrov says
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.
Wei @ Red House Spice says
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.
Maryam Kammoun says
Is it possible to use the Lee Kum Kee black bean garlic sauce for this recipe? or is the paste needed?
Wei @ Red House Spice says
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!
kreepykHazel Stone says
Any chance of the recipe and technique for the hand pulled noodles? : D
Wei @ Red House Spice says
Thank you for reminding me! I will share it for sure.
Jing says
Yummy dish… Thanks for sharing!
Wei @ Red House Spice says
You are welcome Jing!
Vlad says
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.
Wei @ Red House Spice says
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!
Erin Connolly says
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
Wei @ Red House Spice says
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.
The Modern Proper says
Those noodles look so great! Thank you for sharing this recipe and its origins, I’ll be giving it a try for sure.
Wei @ Red House Spice says
My pleasure!! Hope it will turn out great for you. Have a lovely day!
Heddi says
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!! 🙂
Wei @ Red House Spice says
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
Abdul Rahman says
Yeah it’s such a good recipe
Wei @ Red House Spice says
Thank you and happy cooking!