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Zha Jiang Mian—Minced Pork Noodles

December 4, 2017 55 Comments

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Minced Pork Noodles—Zha jiang mian 炸酱面 is a famous noodle dish across the country. However, you may see many restaurants offer it as Beijing style Zhajiangmian on their menu. But its territory is far beyond Beijing.

The highlight of this noodle lay in the minced pork sauce or pork gravy. And this pork gravy changes from northern China to Southern China with the most two essential sauces stay the same: sweet bean sauce and soybean paste.  We have a very similar soup noodle in Sichuan cuisine “杂酱面”. Although they sound similar, but they are two different dishes.

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

To make authentic zha jiang mian, we need yellow soybean paste(黄豆酱). There are several varieties here. In generally, they are called “黄豆酱”. The three ones in the following picture are the most famous and popular ones.

Zha jiang mian| soy bean paste sauce

The most famous one used for Beijing Zha Jiang Mian is the dried yellow soybean paste “干黄酱” from a famous brand “六必居”. If you are living in China or visiting China, purchasing  several packages should be a good option. But it might be quite hard to find outside China. The paste is very thick with strong aroma.

Zha jiang mian| soy bean paste sauce

Other types of soybean paste are much thin but much easier to find. Just search your local Asian markets and ask for “黄豆酱”.

Zha jiang mian| soy bean paste sauce

Another important of this dish is Tian Mian Jiang “甜面酱”, a fermented wheat paste. This one is much easier to find in markets. Just show them the characters. No matter which brand you get, it should be 100% ok for this recipe.  If you cannot find it in nearby markets, check this one and purchase it directly from China.

The best ratio of the two sauces recommended are 2:1 (yellow bean paste VS sweet wheat paste). Firstly, mix 2-3 tablespoons of yellow bean paste and 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of sweet wheat paste with 300ml warm water. Stir to combine well.

Then prepare your vegetables, cucumber, cabbage, carrots, celery and scallion all works fine.

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

Steps:

Add around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in pan and fry the diced pork until withered and slightly browned. This is the process why we say it is “fried” sauce.  Pour in Chinese cooking wine for a more pure taste. Move the pork to the edges of the pan, add garlic and ginger, fry over slow fire until aromatic. Slow down the fire, otherwise the ginger and garlic might be burnt.

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

Pour in our mixed sauce, dark soy sauce and let it simmer for 15 minutes over slowest fire. Mix in sugar.

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

If necessary, turn up the fire and thicken the sauce slightly.

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

Blanch the vegetables and cook the noodles. I highly recommend you using fresh handmade noodles.  Top the sauce and serve immediately. Since this is a dry-mixed noodle dish, I high recommend matching it with a warm soup. I cook lotus root soup this time, but egg drop soup, and tofu soup are also great matches.

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

4.84 from 6 votes
Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com
Print
Zhajiangmian—Minced Pork Noodles
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
10 mins
Total Time
30 mins
 
Chinese Minced Pork Noodles--Zha Jiang Mian
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Chinese
Keyword: noodles, pork
Servings: 8 -10 servings of noodles
Calories: 202 kcal
Author: Elaine
Ingredients
  • fresh noodles for serving ,instruction for handmade noodles
Side vegetables, adjust the amount accordingly
  • fresh cucumber as needed ,shredded
  • carrots as needed ,shredded
  • scallion white as needed ,shredded
Pork Sauce
  • 400 g minced pork ,or diced pork belly
  • 1 inch root ginger ,finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic ,minced
  • 2-3 tbsp. yellow bean paste ,see Note 1
  • 1-1.5 tbsp. sweet wheat paste ,tianmianjiang
  • 300 ml warm water
  • 1 tbsp. cooking wine
  • 1 tbsp. dark soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. sugar
Instructions
  1. Add around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in pan and fry the diced pork until withered and slightly browned. This is the process why we say it is “fried” sauce. Pour in Chinese cooking wine for a more pure taste. Move the pork to the edges of the pan, add garlic and ginger, fry over slow fire until aromatic. Slow down the fire, otherwise the ginger and garlic might be burnt.
  2. Pour in our mixed sauce, dark soy sauce and let it simmer for 15 minutes over slowest fire. Mix in sugar. If necessary, turn up the fire and thicken the sauce slightly.
  3. Blanch shredded carrot for around 30 seconds and cook the noodles according to the instruction. Top the sauce and serve immediately. Since this is a dry-mixed noodle dish, I high recommend matching it with a warm soup.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

The paste is quite salty, if you want a lighter taste, use 2 tablespoons of yellow bean paste and 1 tablespoon of Tian Mian Jiang. For those who wants a stronger taste, use 3 tablespoons of yellow bean paste and 1.5 tablespoon of Tian Mian Jiang.

The pork gravy itself can be refrigerated in airtight container for around 1 week.

Nutrition Facts
Zhajiangmian—Minced Pork Noodles
Amount Per Serving
Calories 202 Calories from Fat 108
% Daily Value*
Fat 12g18%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Cholesterol 36mg12%
Sodium 527mg23%
Potassium 186mg5%
Carbohydrates 10g3%
Protein 10g20%
Vitamin A 430IU9%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 14mg1%
Iron 1.1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

 

Zhajiangmian, fried sauce noodles|chinasichuanfood.com

Filed Under: Featured, Noodles, Recipes

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  1. Paul says

    December 16, 2017 at 10:34 pm

    Hi, Elaine –

    Can you give me an idea of how many servings this makes? If you could include this information at the beginning of future recipe postings, it might be very helpful to your followers. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      December 17, 2017 at 8:55 am

      Paul, I have been struggling about it when posting the recipe. The meat sauce can serve around 8 to 10 servings of noodles and we usually do not eat it up within one meal. So I did not give the actual serving size. I will add that information for sure. Thanks for your suggestion.

      Reply
  2. Tsai Pin says

    December 25, 2017 at 11:10 am

    5 stars
    Hi Elaine,

    How would you make the Sichuan version of zha jiang mian?

    Thanks

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      December 25, 2017 at 12:52 pm

      It is on the plan. Will be finished next month.

      Reply
      • Tsai Pin says

        December 29, 2017 at 11:01 am

        Great! Looking forward to it

        Reply
  3. Vigo Cycles says

    January 13, 2018 at 11:04 pm

    5 stars
    This is an amazing dish. We’ve substituted with ground beef and also added cubed butternut squash, frying in the rendered pork fat before adding the other ingredients, both to great effect. Your transliterations are really helpful, and the lady in our Asian grocery story seemed thrilled to direct me to her favorite brand of Tian Mian Jiang.

    Reply
  4. Owen Kanaway says

    April 22, 2018 at 4:20 am

    Making handfresh noodles is pretty daunting for an amateur cook such as myself, but is fresh noodles from a Korean or Chinese supermarket okay?

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      April 22, 2018 at 7:54 am

      Yes, both types can work fine.

      Reply
  5. Anthony says

    May 15, 2018 at 9:10 am

    4 stars
    Hello,

    For yellow soy bean paste; if you cannot find any Chinese version will doenjang work?

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      May 15, 2018 at 7:59 pm

      Doenjang creates great flavors too, although different.

      Reply
  6. Andreas says

    May 2, 2019 at 10:26 pm

    Hi Elaine,

    I never really put any effort in searching for the dried soybean paste here in Germany as you wrote it might be hard to find outside China. Recently I discovered that both Chinese grocery stores in my town sell it from 王致和 (Wangzhihe) brand and one sells the 六必居 brand, too. I was however a little bit confused as on the packaging the brand name is written 居必六 (reading from left to right) but it’s the same on your photo. So maybe this ingredient is not so hard to find outside China in stores either run by Chinese or catering to a lot of Chinese customers.

    Reply
  7. Juliana says

    August 23, 2019 at 7:51 pm

    5 stars
    Try this recipe yesterday and was absolutely great. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Elaine says

      August 24, 2019 at 8:06 pm

      Thanks for the feedback, Juliana.

      Reply
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