Mom's Best Zha Jiang Mian (炸酱面) - Fried Sauce Noodles

The sweet bean sauce is slowly cooked with onion and pork to create an appetizing and mouthwatering savory sauce. Add a spoonful of sauce to the noodles and gently mix them; you will smell the pungent aroma and be unable to resist picking up the chopsticks and digging in.

Ingredients

• 300 grams pork (, cubed to small squares (or minced pork))
• 1 tablespoon ginger (, minced)
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
• 200 grams (7 ounces) bean sauce
• 100 milliliters vegetable oil
• 400 milliliters water
• 1 small onion (, chopped)
• 240 gram (9 ounces) fresh noodles
• stir fried tomato and egg ((Optional))
• 1 cucumber (, julienned)

Instructions

0. Add minced pork, ginger and Shaoxing wine into a large bowl. Mix well.
1. Add sweet bean sauce to a medium sized bowl. Slowly blend in water and stir constantly, until water is fully incorporated.
2. Heat a wok (or a heavy bottomed skillet) over medium high heat. Add oil and wait until oil is hot, 2 to 3 minutes. Add pork and stir constantly, until the surface turns mostly white. Swirl in sweet bean sauce. Turn to medium heat and keep stirring constantly, until the sauce turns almost black, about 10 mins. If the sauce thickens too quickly and starts to feel like it's sticking to the bottom of the wok, slowly blend in warm water, 1/2 cup at a time. Reduce the heat if the wok gets too hot.
3. Add onion into the sauce and keep stirring, until fully cooked but still crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. Stop heat and transfer the sauce to a large bowl.
4. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to instructions.
5. Add noodles to serving bowls. Top noodles with sauce, cucumber, and stir fried tomato and egg.
6. Serve warm.