Fried Rice Noodles With Beef 乾炒牛河

This is another one of my favourite noodle dishes, sadly I haven't managed to find a good plate of this Cantonese classic anywhere in Melbourne just yet. As you can see this is a very simple dish with only 4 main ingredients but also a dish that can go so wrong in so many ways. Follow these few simple rules and you'll be dishing out plates of this delicious fried noodles time and time again;

1. Very hot wok and cook in batches.

2. Bean sprouts to be topped and tailed, this elevates the dish from being pedestrian to elegant.

3. Use good quality beef and DO NOT attempt to marinate the beef with soda powder*

4. Use thinner spring onions if possible and cut them into lengths similar to the bean sprouts.

5. Be careful not to break up the noodles too much during cooking.

P.S Soda powder is widely used to tenderise cheaper cuts of meat in Asian restaurants.

recipe per serve

you'll need;

200 g of fresh rice noodles (wide), loosen and mix with a dash of dark soy

100 g of beef fillet, sliced across the grains, marinated with dash of soy, Chinese cooking wine, sugar and a little corn flour

a handful of bean sprouts, topped and tailed*

4 spring onions, cut into lengths similar to the bean sprouts

dash of light soy

dash of oyster sauce

dash of white pepper

* topped and tailed bean sprouts are refer to as 銀芽 (yin ya) or silver sprouts

This is a very important stage, cosmetic reason aside it also gives the dish a much nicer mouthfeel.

Prepare the ingredients and have everything close by as the whole cooking process will take less than 10 minutes.

Char noodles on high heat til a little char.

Heat up the wok again, sear the beef for 30 seconds on high heat then add in the spring onions, continue to saute for a further 30 seconds.

Return noodles to the wok, mix everything well and add seasonings. Continue to fry for a minute, be careful not to break up the noodles too much.

Finally chuck in the bean sprouts, mix well and cook for a further 30 seconds. Check for seasonings.

Serves immediately with cut chillies and soy.