A humble and easy homemade chow mein noodle with beef.

Every time when we visit Ikea on Friday, we are super happy to have 2-3 plates of the black pepper beef noodle. They use spaghettini and the dish is a very common Chinese style of chow mein noodles. All of my family members love the tastes. Then I figure out, spaghettini is the best substitute for Chinese alkaline noodle when making a bowl of yummy chow mein.

Cook’s Note about making tender beef slices

1.  Mix oil before frying the beef can protect our sauces and starch.
2. After spreading the beef strips to the pan, let them stay for around several seconds until the starch finish gelatinization, otherwise the marinating tissues might be separated from the meat. In addition, be gentle and quick in the whole process.
3. The beef strips should be added at the very last of the noodle stir fry process, extra movement can cause the falling of the marinating coating and thus making the beef strips losing the tender juice texture.

About the noodles 

Choose the right type of noodles. For common Chinese chow mein, they are two large groups, the first one is egg noodles (commonly used in Northern China and work perfectly with sauces). And the second is Cantonese Chow Mein, which is much drier and thinner, working best with crisper chow mein. The noodle I use this time is dried egg noodles. 

Steps

1.Cook the noodles| Heat a large pot of water to a boiling, add a small pinch of salt. Then place noodles in. Gently stir. Add around 1 cup of water when the water boils. Then it becomes simmer again, wait until it re-boils. Add around 1 cup of cold water (to help the surface shrinks ) and transfer the noodles out immediately. Strain to remove extra water.

Transfer the noodles to a large plate, add vegetable cooking oil or sesame oil. Mix well and let it cool down.

1. Cut the beef steak into 1cm wide strips. Marinate with all the marinating seasonings for 15 minutes. Then mix in oil.
2. Add cooking oil in a large pan until the oil can evenly cover the bottom of the pan. spread the beef strips in. Let them stay for around 10 seconds and gently stir them several times until the beef strips change color. Transfer the beef out and leave around 1 tablespoon of the oil in.
3. Fry garlic and ginger until aromatic. Fry green peppers and red onion until slightly soft. Place the noodles in. Add a small pinch of salt and soy sauce. Return beef strips back. Mix well. Spread freshly ground black pepper.

Black Pepper Beef Noodles

Beef chow mein made with spaghettini

4 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Chinese

Keyword: noodles

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Servings: 3 servings

Calories: 338kcal

Author: Elaine

Ingredients

• 150 g beef steak of any cut, thinly sliced

Beef marinating

• ¼ tsp. salt
• 1 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine Shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp. corn starch
• ½ tbsp. light soy sauce

Sauce

• 2 tsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. light soy sauce
• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce
• ½ tbsp. oyster sauce
• tbsp. fresh grounded black pepper
• 1 tsp. sesame oil

Other ingredients

• 2 servings egg noodles or spaghettini
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 thumb ginger ,sliced
• 2 green peppers , shredded
• freshly ground black pepper to taste
• ½ red onion , shredded
• sesame oil for coating the noodles
• 3 tbsp. vegetable cooking oil

Instructions

Cook the noodles

• Read the directions on the package firstly and cook the noodle with 1 or 2 minutes less than suggested. Once cooked, drain and then drizzle sesame oil, mix well to separate the noodles.

Fry it up

• Cut beef into shreds. Add a small pinch of salt, cooking wine and then 1 tablespoon of the sauce. Mix well and then add starch.
• Add cooking oil in a large pan until the oil can evenly cover the bottom of the pan. spread the beef strips in. Let them stay for around 10 seconds and gently stir them several times until the beef strips change color. Transfer the beef out and leave around 1 tablespoon of the oil in.
• Fry garlic and ginger until aromatic. Fry green peppers and red onion until slightly soft. Place the noodles in. Add the sauce and return the beef.

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 338kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 27g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 769mg | Potassium: 301mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 295IU | Vitamin C: 65.8mg | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 1.4mg

Tried this recipe?Mention @ChinaSichuanFood or tag #ElaineCSF!