Zha Jiang Mian

Zha jiang mian (or jia jiang mien - "fried sauce noodles") is a pretty well known Chinese noodle dish. The dish is usually served as a bowl of thick noodles topped with a sauce made from ground pork and soybean paste.

There are all sorts of regional variations of this recipe, using different kinds of soybean pastes - sweet, salty, spicy, etc. This particular recipe is my grandmother's recipe, which I've been having since I was a kid, and is made with sweet bean sauce (tianmianjiang), the most common version of this dish.

Ingredients

• Chinese noodles
  • Here's an example:
• 1 small can of sweet bean sauce
  • Sweet bean sauce (tianmianjiang) is a salty and sweet sauce made from wheat flour and soybean.
  • Note: this is not the same as "sweet bean paste" (a sweet paste often used to fill dessert buns)
  • I like to use this brand:
• 1 bunch of green onions, cut in half lengthwise and diced
• 5 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp ginger, minced
• 1/2 lb ground pork
• 1/2 lb uncooked shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut into small pieces
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• Cucumber, sliced into sticks (optional)

Directions

1. Heat the cooking oil in a wok on medium-high heat until hot.
2. Add the ground pork and shrimp. Break up the ground pork and stir fry until the pork is cooked (turns white).
3. Add the green onions, garlic, and ginger. Continue stir frying until fragrant (a couple minutes)
4. Add the can of sweet bean sauce. Fill the empty can with 1/2 can of water, to rinse out any remaining sauce. Add this water to the wok.
5. Continue to stir fry and combine, until the water is evaporated and absorbed back into the meat. You'll know it's ready when the oil starts to separate from the sauce as you drag your spatula across the wok, and the oil is clear.
6. Remove from heat. Serve over cooked noodles, with optional cucumber.