Ten minutes to prep and ten minutes to cook, this noodle dish is flavored with garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice wine, oyster sauce, Chinese black vinegar and Japanese Worcestershire sauce.
Connie’s Notes
Don’t you just love the colors? The right combination of vegetables does that. A benchmark of Asian stir fries, really. And combining broccoli florets with carrot slices and shiitake gives the dish a lovely textural contrast too.
Is it a Chinese or Japanese dish? A little bit of both with a touch of Korean. The noodles are typical Chinese egg noodles. The seasoning includes Japanese Worcestershire sauce and mirin. But the overall flavor is more Korean than Chinese or Japanese because the sauce also has gochujang and chili flakes.
So, it’s fusion? Yes! And a glorious fusion dish it is too. Salty, sweet with a bit of tang from the Chinese black vinegar.
Tip: Choose a good cut of beef and have your butcher slice it thinly. Stewing beef is not good for this recipe. Loin or round would be ideal. The slices should be no more than two millimeters.
Ingredients
Sauce
- ¼ cup Japanese soy sauce
- ¼ cup mirin
- 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Japanese Worcestershire sauce - (we use Bulldog brand at home)
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon sugar
Beef
- 1 tablespoon sesame seed oil
- 400 grams thinly sliced beef - (about 14 oz.) cut into two-inch pieces
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Vegetables
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 2 cups broccoli florets
- ½ cup carrot slices
- 1 cup shiitake slices
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Noodles
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon chopped ginger
- 500 to 600 grams fresh egg noodles - (about 1 to 1.3 pounds) blanched, drained, refreshed in cold water then drained thoroughly
Instructions
Make the sauce
- Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce.
- Divide the sauce into two equal portions.
Cook the beef
- In a pan, heat the sesame seed oil then spread the beef in the hot oil. Cook until the underside is browned then stir and cook over high heat until most of the pinkness is gone.
- Pour in one portion of the sauce and sprinkle in a teaspoon of sugar.
- Cook, stirring often, until the meat has soaked up the liquid.
- Set the beef aside and keep warm.
Stir fry the vegetables
- In a wok or large frying pan, heat the two tablespoons of cooking oil and spread the broccoli florets, carrot slices and shiitake on the bottom of the pan.
- Sprinkle in salt and pepper.
- Stir fry for a minute or two depending on the size of the broccoli florets.
- Scoop out the vegetables and set aside. Keep warm.
Stir fry the noodles
- In the same wok or frying pan where you stir fried the vegetables, heat another two tablespoons of oil.
- Saute the garlic and ginger just until aromatic.
- Add the noodles and toss until every strand is coated with oil.
Finish the beef chow mein
- Pour the remaining sauce over the noodles and toss to distribute evenly.
- Add the stir fried vegetables and mushrooms, and toss well.
- Finally, add the beef to the noodles and vegetables. Continue stir frying just until everything is heated through.
- Taste, adjust the seasonings if needed, and serve immediately.
