Dish of Fried Noodles with Beef
(click to enlarge)

Fried Noodles with Beef


Vietnam
Serves:
Effort:
Sched:
DoAhead:  		 2 main
**
35 min
Most		 This stir fry can also be made with Pork or Chicken. Of "street food" origin it is tasty, quick to prepare and cooks in just a few minutes. You'll need a wok for space and easy to use tongs for handling the noodles.
In Vietnam and Thailand, Noodle dishes are considered Chinese, whether or not they have ever been made in China, so are usually not hot, but I like some hot sauce with this. In Thailand, noodles are the only dishes eaten with chopsticks.

3
3
1/2
6
4
6
3
------
1-1/2
1-1/2
1/4
1/2
------
2
oz
oz
T
oz
oz
oz
oz
---
T
T
c
t
---
T
Black Fungus (1)
Chinese noodles (2)  
Oil
Beef lean
Onion
Tomato
Celery
-- Sauce
Fish Sauce (3)
Soy Sauce light
Stock
Pepper black
---------
Oil
Prep   -   (15 min)
  1. Soak BLACK FUNGUS (see Note-1) in warm water for about 1/2 hour. Cut out hard attachment points and chop very coarse.
  2. Soak NOODLES (see Note-2) in warm water for about 20 minutes until fully softened. Cook in boiling salted water for 3 minutes, drain and mix with 1/2 T Oil so they don't stick together. Cuting the lump so noodles are about 5 inches long will make them easier to handle in the pan, though Asians would resist this.
  3. Cut BEEF into bitesize pieces about 1/8" thick and about 1-1/4 inches on a side.
  4. Cut ONION into wide lengthwise wedges and cut the wedges in half crosswise.
  5. Cut TOMATO to match the onions. Peel or not as you wish (I peel them).
  6. Slice CELERY on a diagonal slant into medium slices.
  7. Mix allSauce items.
Run   -   (10 min)
  1. In a wok or spacious sauté pan heat OIL quite hot and fry Onion stirring until well coated with oil, then stir in Beef and fry stirring until all raw color is gone and all exuded liquid has evaporated.
  2. Stir in Black Fungus, then Celery, then Noodles, then Tomatoes. Toss and separate the noodles with tongs to distribute with the other ingredients.
  3. Stir in Sauce mix, bring to a boil, cover and simmer just a minute or two and serve hot.
NOTES:

  1. Black Fungus:

      [Cloud Ear, Wood Ear, etc.] Weight given is after soaking for accuracy. Dried (as sold) that would be about 0.5 oz to get 3 oz - these expand a lot. For details see our Black Fungus page.

  2. Chinese Noodles:

      The weight given is for dry - but the semi-dry "fresh" ones from the refrigerated section of Asian markets are better (use 6 ounces). In either case you want the really thin ones. Of course in Vietnam they'd be using just made fresh noodles. For details see our Chinese Thin Noodles page.

  3. Fish Sauce:

      This clear liquid is as essential to Southeast Asian cuisine as it was to Imperial Rome. If you are unfamiliar with it, see our Fish Sauce - Introduction page.
  4. U.S. measure: t=teaspoon, T=Tablespoon, c=cup, qt=quart, oz=ounce, #=pound, cl=clove in=inch, ar=as required tt=to taste
smm_cownoodv1 060202 r 090804 vsea119   -   www.clovegarden.com
©Andrew Grygus - agryg@aaxnet.com - Linking to and non-commercial use of this page is permitted.