Stir-fried noodles with beef ho fun recipe

In China, cooking is about bonding as a family over feasts of complex dishes full of flavours and textures. These stir-fried noodles with beef ho fun are no exception.

Celine Chung’s beef noodles.

Chinese cuisines are complex, full of textures, and flavourful – sweet, salty, sour and spicy. So delicious, yet so little known. As a child I had the opportunity to visit my grandparents in China, in their village of Wenzhou. The days consisted mainly of going to eat noodles in the morning at the hole-in-the-wall on the shopping street; then heading to the market to buy vegetables and meat to prepare lunch and dinner. It took over an hour to cook all the dishes to be shared for lunch, then we feasted on them for at least two hours. There was Peking duck, stir-fried vegetables, noodles, steamed fish and fruit on the table.

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In the afternoon we played or had a nap, waiting for dinner time. The day revolved around meals and nothing else. As a child, I didn’t understand this rhythm. I found every day the same, it bored me and I had the impression life was all about eating. Growing up, I realised that meals are everything in a Chinese family: the ultimate proof of love. Cooking in China means more than just eating; it’s a way of life.

Celine Chung.

Cookbook: Bao Family by Celine Chung.

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RECIPE: Stir-fried noodles with beef ho fun

Ingredients

• 400g thick rice noodles
• 200g beef for stir-frying
• ½ brown onion
• 30g shallots or spring onions
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 100g bean sprouts
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce

Marinade

• 1½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
• ¾ tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• ½ teaspoon vegetable oil
• Pinch white pepper
• 2 teaspoons white sugar
• 2 teaspoons water

Sauce

• 1 ½ tablespoons dark soy sauce
• ½ tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon white sugar

To serve

• Coriander
  

Method

1. Soak the rice noodles in hot water for 20 minutes (the water should not be boiling). Meanwhile, prepare the marinade by mixing all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
2. Thinly slice the beef against the grain of the meat, then add the meat to the marinade and leave to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
3. Prepare the sauce by mixing the soy sauces and sugar together. Cut the onion into strips, roughly cut the spring onion into 5cm chunks and beat the eggs in a bowl.
4. In a hot oiled wok, first cook the eggs, then the noodles for about 2 minutes, until the texture begins to change. Next, add the oyster sauce and sauce ingredients, then stir for 30 seconds. Add the bean sprouts at the last minute and cook for 30 seconds. Transfer the noodles into bowls (or a serving dish). Add more oil to the wok, then brown the onion. Next add the beef, spring onion and dark soy sauce. Fry for 30 seconds until beef is cooked but tender.
5. Serve on the bed of noodles and scatter with coriander leaves. Serves 2