Beef and blackbean with noodles

Like many of my generation who were exposed to poor quality chinese takeaway in our youth, I abstained for quite some time from eating or cooking Chinese meals.  (Not totally the fault of those who were trying to expand our experience, they had to change things to suit a far different western palate).  Far more exciting at the time were the fresh and aromatic dishes from the newer wave of Asian cuisines – Thai, Vietnamese, even Malaysian and Burmese.  However, in a classic example of never say never, I have gladly brought Chinese cooking into my repertoire.  I cannot say exactly when it began to sneak back in, but it was certainly solidified by a trip to China that had me in raptures over what I was eating.  Food and eating is an incredibly important part of culture and family in China.  I feel that this is reflected in the food, and that too is part of the appeal.  So here is my take on a 1970s suburban Chinese restaurant classic – beef and blackbean.

Ingredients

¼ cup peanut oil

½ inch ginger finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

200g beef sliced into thin strips, I usually use rump

1 tablespoon fermented black beans (most Asian grocers will have this)

6 oyster mushrooms, torn gently

4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced with stalks removed  

2 tblsp palm sugar, grated

2 tblsp light soy sauce

2 tblsp shao xing

4 tblsp oyster sauce

¼ cup chicken stock  (homemade is best if you have it)

300g fresh rice noodle sheets cut into 2cm strips

½ bunch gai larn (Chinese broccoli) sliced on the diagonal, leaves kept separate.

2 spring onions cut into 3cm lengths

¼ teaspoon sesame oil

¼ cup thai basil leaves

pinch of ground white pepper

Method

I have discovered that you need to have a good kitchen exhaust fan/rangehood if you are me and cook lots of things at high temperatures!  This is another example.

Heat the oil in a wok until just smoking and add the ginger and garlic and fry until fragrant – you will know when this is, just be careful not to burn the garlic.

To your wok, add the beef slices and stir-fry for a minute and remove.  Next add the black beans, gai larn stalks, both mushrooms, the palm sugar and all of the liquids.  All of this needs to stir-fry for a further minute by which stage the palm sugar should have melted.

Add the rice noodles, gai larn leaves and shallots to the wok and toss through so that everything is well mixed.  Return the meat and cook for one last minute.  Finally, add the sesame oil toss through and remove from the heat

Spoon into your serving bowls, then sprinkle over the basil leaves and pepper.