Zha Jiang Mian

After I’m done with a tiring day (especially Mondays!), I’ll always crave something from home. Usually, it involves either curry or a sweet & sour sauce. And when the cooking’s done, I’ll take my place in front of the tv with my bowl of food and a cup of green tea. If there is nothing on, no harm re-watching old episodes of Friends right?

But the night before, I wasn’t craving the usual stuff. I was craving noodles and specifically, something hearty yet light and refreshing. I flipped through my recipe books and came across Zha Jiang Mian. I haven’t had them in ages and so, I knew that I had to have them for dinner the next night.

I tweaked the recipe here and there but nothing major. And if you’re not into meat, just substitute the minced pork for textured vegetable protein or cubed firm tofu!


Zha Jiang Mian
(adapted from China Modern by Ching-He Huang)
serves 2

for the sauce
1 cup chicken stock
2 tablespoon hoi sin sauce
2 tablespoon shaoxing rice wine
1 tablespoon bean sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic clove, crushed and finely chopped
handful of chopped spring onions (white part)
1 red chilli, finely chopped
250g minced pork
2 servings of Shanghai noodles/any wheat noodles

to garnish
1 spring onion, finely chopped (green part)
1 Lebanese cucumber, finely sliced into long strips

1. Combine the sauce ingredients in a bowl.
2. Heat a wok over high heat and add the oil. Stir fry the garlic, spring onion and chilli for less than a minute. Add the minced pork to the wok and stir fry for about 1 minutes until browned.
3. Pour in the sauce, bring to the boil and allow the sauce to reduce (to a few spoonfuls).
4. While the sauce is simmering, cook the noodles according the instructions on the packet, drain then divide between two bowls.
5. When the sauce is done, spoon over the meat sauce and place the spring onions and cucumber strips on the noodles. Serve immediately.

Comfort food at its best! If you need a quick lunch the next day, double up the meat sauce recipe and keep some in the fridge. Just heat it up and prepare a simple Asian-style sloppy joes!

Any quick dinner recipes to share?