Cantonese Fried Rice Noodles With Beef

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Fried Rice Noodles with Beef 乾炒牛河 (gān chǎo níu hé) is a Cantonese dish and a spinoff of the stir-fried beef on rice noodles 濕炒牛河 (shī chǎo níu hé).  There's an interesting story about how this dish came to being.  In the 1930's, during the Japanese invasion of China, a traitor, working for the Japanese government, went into a restaurant and ordered a stir-fried beef on rice noodles.  The owner told him that they were out of starch and therefore couldn't make the slurry for the sauce.  The traitor then pulls out a gun and demands that he gets his order.  The owner, with no other choice, decides to wing it. He uses some bean sprouts he had and fries all the ingredients together. He then tossing everything in some dark soy sauce.  The traitor loved it and kept going back for more.

 Thereafter, Fried Rice Noodles with Beef became a big hit.  You will definitely find this classic dish on any Hong Kong café or Chinese noodle house (粥粉麵館 zhōu fěn mìan gǔan) menu. But this might be one of the most difficult dishes to make perfectly.  If the wok isn't hot enough, the noodles will break apart. The beansprouts will then give off too much moisture, making everything mushy.  The same thing will happen if there's not enough oil.  The secret is to add each ingredient separately so that you don't bring down the temperature of the wok.  Putting in the rice noodles after the bean sprouts will help the noodles absorb the moisture of the beansprouts. This will ensure that the wok stays as dry as possible.

 In my opinion, the perfect Fried Rice Noodles with Beef has long pieces of rice noodles that are coated lightly with dark soy sauce.  The dark soy sauce will be slightly charred on each ingredient to enhance the sweet soy aroma with each bite.  Hence, everything in the wok will have a slightly toasted flavor.  This is the essence of Cantonese cooking.  We call it 鍋氣 "wok hei" in Cantonese.  It literally means "wok gas".  It's kind of like having everything in the wok seared without burning anything. In summary, the searing gives off an aroma which is "wok hei."

With my now seasoned carbon steel wok, I've been able to get the "wok hei" I've been working hard for! Even if you can't get "wok hei" at home, you will definitely get the authentic taste of Fried Rice Noodles with Beef 乾炒牛河 with my recipe. If you're interested, this is the wok, which I now absolutely love, that I purchased from Amazon:

Joyce Chen , Classic Series Carbon Steel Wok Set, 4-Piece, 14-Inch, Charcoal
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases)

Need a nice refreshing drink to go with this meal? Try my Hong Kong Lemon Tea 港式檸檬茶 or Hong Kong Milk Tea 港式奶茶.

Fried Rice Noodles with Beef 乾炒牛河

Fried Rice Noodles with Beef 乾炒牛河 is a classic Cantonese fried noodle dish. It's traditionally made with Chinese chives, bean sprouts, onions, beef and flat rice noodles.

I don't like how Chinese restaurants marinate their beef. It is artificially tender with no juice. In my recipe, I will not be making the beef this way. However, if that's the way you like the beef, this is how you would marinate it:

• soak the sliced beef in salt water (1 tbsp salt in 500ml water) for 15 minutes

• rinse the beef with water and squeeze out excess water. Dry with paper towel (be sure to rinse off all the salt)

• Prepare marinade in the recipe, but also add 1/8 tsp baking soda and 1 tbsp water. Add beef

• Use your hand to stir and squeeze the beef in the marinade until all the marinade has been absorbed by the beef. Let it marinade for 30 minutes before stir-frying

Approximate cost (CAD) $16

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Prep Time 40 mins

Cook Time 15 mins

Total Time 55 mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Cantonese, Chinese

Servings 4 servings

Calories 1151 kcal

• 350 g Flank steak thinly sliced
• 2 lb Fresh flat rice noodles or 900g
• ½ Medium onion sliced
• 100 g Chinese chives cut to 5cm or 2" pieces
• 200 g Mung bean sprouts aka green bean sprouts, with top and bottom removed ( we only want the middle white section)
• 3 stalks Green onions 5cm or 2" shreds
• 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
• 2 tbsp Dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Sweet soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 4 tbsp Oil

• Place the sliced beef in a mixing bowl and add 1 tsp light soy sauce, 1 tsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp Shaoxing wine and 1 tsp corn starch and mix well. Add 1 tsp oil and mix well again. Set aside

• Wash and cut all the vegetables and set aside

  

• Separate the rice noodles from each other Fresh rice noodles are the easiest to work with. If you cannot find fresh rice noodles, you can use dry rice noodles. But remember to add oil to them after you boil them and to let them cool before you fry them.

  

• Add 1 tbsp of oil to a non-stick wok or fry pan on high heat If you cannot use high heat, then just bear in mind that your noodles may break apart easily and will be softer than at restaurants

• Add the beef to the pan and stir fry for 15-20 seconds. Hopefully, you will get a sear on the beef without fully cooking it through. Remove the beef from the heat

  

• Add 2 tbsp oil into the wok while the wok is still hot and add the onions. Stir fry until aromatic. Add Chinese chives and stir fry together with the onions for 10 seconds and add bean sprouts. Stir fry for 30 seconds

• Add 1 tbsp of oil to the outer edges of the wok so that the oil can slide down to the bottom of the wok.

• Add the separated flat rice noodles to the wok and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Try to mix the noodles with the vegetables together evenly

• Add the beef and stir fry

• Add 2 tbsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tbsp sweet soy sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce on the outer edges of the wok, if possible heat from the wok will help bring out the aroma of the soy sauce

• Stir fry everything together for 20-30 seconds. By this time, everything should be piping hot and well mixed. Turn off heat

• Add shredded green onions and toss again

• Put onto serving plate

Calories: 1151 kcal Carbohydrates: 202 g Protein: 31 g Fat: 21 g Saturated Fat: 3 g Cholesterol: 53 mg Sodium: 1468 mg Potassium: 588 mg Fiber: 6 g Sugar: 8 g Vitamin A: 1178 IU Vitamin C: 24 mg Calcium: 98 mg Iron: 4 mg

Keyword Beef, Rice Noodles

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Source: https://auntieemily.com/fried-rice-noodles-with-beef/

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