Chinese Stir-fry Beef Noodles (Beef Horfun) 干炒河粉

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1. 400g rice noodles or brown rice noodles of 100g portion each.

2. 2 eggs

3. 200g beef sliced thin

4. 1/2 onion sliced thin

5. 4 garlic cloved minced

6. 50g or a handful of pak choi (optional)

7. 50g or a handful of beans sprouts

8. 50g or a handful of broccoli

9. 1 TBS light soy sauce

10. 1 TBS dark soy sauce

11. 2 TBS cooking oil

12. 1 TBS olive oil

12. A handful of chopped spring onions for garnish

Marinade for beef:

1. 1 tsp soy sauce

2. 1 tsp Chinese rice wine

3. 1 tsp corn starch

4. 1 tsp water

5. 1 tsp Chinese sesame oil

Directions:

1. Slice the beef into bite size against the grain. 

2. Mix with light soy sauce, rice wine, cornstarch, water and sesame oil and set aside in the fridge for 15-30 mins while you prepare the other ingredients.

3. Heat wok with 1 tablespoon of oil, add eggs and don't touch it for 30 seconds. Then scramble them lightly until fried and cooked. Dish out and set aside.

4. Heat wok with 1 tablespoon of oil again, add beef and don't touch it for 30 seconds. Then stir them until they are lightly cooked and pale. Dish out and set aside.

5. Bring a small pot of 1 liter of water to boil, add1-2 portions of 100g rice noodles at a time. Cook for 1 minute and then another minute off the stove with the lid on.

6. Drain and rinse in cold water until the water is clear. Set aside. If you are not using it immediately, coat it with some olive oil and a teaspoon of soy sauce.

7. Heat wok, add garlic and fry until fragrant.

8. Add rice noodles and dark soy sauce and give it a quick stir until well coated and a bit char, if possible, but don't overcook the rice noodles.

9. Add vegetables and half of the onions and give it a quick stir 30seconds or so.

10. Dish out, garnish with the remaining onions and spring onions. Serve :-)

Additional Information:

This is C's and J's favorite dish at the Chinese Restaurant near our home. So I tried to make it :-) All eaten up by J.

References:

https://redhousespice.com/beef-chow-fun/

https://maxtex.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/13_Brown-Rice-VS-Wheat-Flour.pdf

https://wildgrain.com/blogs/news/bread-vs-pasta-vs-rice-vs-potatoes

https://www.onlymyhealth.com/is-white-rice-better-than-wheat-roti-for-you-1687869154

https://foodstruct.com/compare/rice-vs-wheat

Marinade beef with 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp rice wine, 1 tsp corn starch and 1 tsp Chinese sesame oil.

Prepare the ingredients as shown above 50g of pak choi, 50g of broccoli, 50g of beans sprouts, a handful of chopped spring onion and half a onion sliced, 2 eggs fried and 150g of beef fried.

Fry your beef with 1 TBS of cooking oil until they looked

pale.

Add 1 tablespoon of oil, add garlic and fry until fragrant. Add 1/2 portion of ice noodles and stir lightly a couple of time. Add dark soy sauce and give it a quick stir. Done :-) Then add the pak choi, broccoli, bean sprouts, 1/2 of the sliced onion and give it a quick stir.

Add a bit more dark soy sauce and give it a quick stir.

Done :-)

Sprinkle some of the sliced onion and spring onions.

Shoyu Ramen

Toppings:

1. 1 packet of 125g blanched bean sprouts

2. 1 can corn kernels drained

3. 1 sheets nori seaweeds cut into 4 quarters.

4. 2 stalk spring onions minced

5. 4 medium boiled eggs (boil eggs in a pot of water for 6 minutes)

6. 1 packet enoki mushrooms cooked

7. 4 leaves of Bok Choi Chinese vegetables blanched (optional)

8. A handful of broccoli blanched

9. 1/2 tsp garlic oil (optional)

Directions:

1. Bring to boil a pot of 2 litres of water.

2. Blanch spinach, dish and put aside.

3. Add broccoli, once cooked, dish and put aside.

4. Add beansprouts, once cooked, dish and put aside.

5. Add Bok Choi Chinese vegetables, once cooked, dish and put aside.

Boiled Eggs

Ingredients:

1. 250ml water

2. 4 eggs

3. 1 TBS soy sauce

Directions:

1. Bring to boil a pot of 250ml water, add 4 eggs and cook for 6 minutes.

2. Drain and peel shell of eggs.

3. Place eggs back to the pot.

4. Add 1 tablespoon of soy sauce.

5. Roll the eggs to get the dark color on it.

6. Set aside.

Ramen Noodles:

Makes 4 servings of 75g ramen noodles each or make your own as follows:

Ingredients:

1. 450g plain flour

2. 1 tsp kansui alkaline water

3. 180ml liquid = 2 eggs + water (170g water if not using eggs)

4. 2 tsp salt

5. 2 litres of water

Directions:

Making noodles:

1. Place 450g flour into the Philips Pasta machine.

2. Slowly pour 180ml liquid = 2 eggs + water + 1 tsp alkaline water.

3. Run it through the machine and the noodles are made.

Cooking noodles:

3. Bring to boil a pot of 2 litres of water.

4. Add noodles and 2 teaspoons of salt.

5. Boil until noodles are cooked and float.

6. Drain and flush with cold water to cool the noodles down immediately so that the noodles will be chewy.

7. Set noodles aside.

Pork Stock:

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg of pork ribs

2. 2 litres of water

3. Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Bring to boil a pot of 2 litres of water.

2. Add pork ribs and salt.

3. Turn down fire (no. 2 out of 9 on my stove) and simmer for 1 hour or more and it's done.

Shoyu Soup (per serving):

Ingredients:

1. 2 cups of pork stock

2. 1.5 TBS soy sauce

3. A dash of salt

Directions:

1. In a pot, add pork stock or water.

2. Add 1.5 TBS soy sauce and a dash of salt.

3. Bring to a light boil and it's done.

Katsu Pork Cutlet:

Ingredients:

1. 4 pieces of pork cutlet

2. 1 TBS soy sauce

3. 1 tsp sesame oil

4. A dash of salt and pepper

5. 1 tsp corn starch

6. 1 TBS corn starch

7. 1 TBS brown rice flour

8. 50ml cooking oil for frying

Directions:

1. In a bowl, add pork cutlet, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, pepper and 1 teaspoon corn starch and mix well.

2. In a separate plate, add 1 tablespoon corn starch and 1 tablespoon brown rice flour.

3. Lightly coat the pork cutlets on both side.

4. Heat up a pan with the cooking oil for frying the pork cutlets.

5. Place the pork cutlets into the pan and bring down heat to no. 5.5 on my stove.

6. Fry until golden on both sides. 

7. Cover and cook the pork cutlets (test a slice to see if it is fully cooked).

8. Place on kitchen towel to remove excess oil and set aside.

Building the noodle bowl:

1. Add a portion of noodles into a bowl.

2. Ladle the shoyu soup into a soup bowl.

3. Place blanched broccoli, Bok Choi, beansprouts, boiled eggs, katsu pork cutlet, sweet corns, chopped spring onions and nori seaweed.

4. Add a teaspoon of garlic oil.

5. Cut the katsu pork cutlet into slices and serve :-)

Additional Information:

Among the different ramens - Miso ramen, Tonkontsu ramen, etc., Our Little FECS likes the Shoyu ramen best. It is also one of the easiest ramens to make. Shoyu basically mean soy sauce based soup. I tried this today and Little FECS ate it after coming back from school. He gave a thumbs up,  and said that it is the tastiest one so far, after trying many different ones :-) Daddy FECS too likes this soup base best.

References:

https://www.notsoancientchinesecrets.com/how-to-make-ramen-with-the-philips-pasta-maker/?fbclid=IwAR2WW26sQtkVvPVQHyz5JReUlv0CTe6hFPgfrpb529gpCPwcvCnd-KfAucE

https://youtu.be/z62XMZvr_4Q?si=HxLvw189WFrQDRem

Make Pork Stock:

Bring to boil 2 litres of water, add pork ribs and salt and simmer under low fire (no. 2.5 on my stove) for and hour until cooked.

Making boiled eggs:

Boil eggs for 6 minutes, drain and peel off egg shell.

Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce.

Roll eggs in the soy sauce to get a bit of color on the eggs and set aside.

Making Katsu pork cutlets:

Mix 1 tablespoon corn starch and 1 tablespoon brown rice flour, and coat the pork cutlet on both sides.

Heat oil, fry pork cutlets until golden on medium high heat (no. 7 on my stove).

Turn over and fry until golden. Then cover with lid and fry for 5 minutes under medium low heat (no. 4 on my stove)

5 Sep 2023 (14Y6M): J having homemade ramen after school :-)

Miso Ramen

Adapted from Just One Cookbook

Ingredients:

Ramen Noodles:

Makes 4-5 servings of 75g ramen noodles each

Or make your own:

1. 400 g white whole wheat flour

2. 1/2 tsp salt

3. 1 tsp kansui alkaline water

4. 180ml liquid = 2 eggs + water (170g water if not using eggs)

Toppings:

1. 1 packet of 125g blanched bean sprouts

2. 1 can corn kernels drained

3. 1 sheets nori seaweeds cut into 4 quarters.

4. 2 stalk spring onions minced

5. 4 medium boiled eggs (boil eggs in a pot of water for 7 minutes)

6. 1 packet enoki mushrooms cooked

7. 4 leaves of bok Choi Chinese vegetables blanched (optional)

8. 1/2 tsp garlic oil (optional)

Soup:

1. 1 litre of soup stock such as chicken stock or pork stock.

2. 2 cloves garlic minced

3. 2 shallots minced

4. 2 slices of ginger minced

5. 1 TBS cooking oil

6. 1 cup soymilk (optional)

7. 3 TBS miso paste

8. 1 TBS sake

9. 1 TBS sesame seeds ground

10. Salt & pepper to taste

Eggs:

1. 2 TBS soy sauce

2. 1 tsp of grated ginger

3. 4-5 boiled and shelled eggs

Minced pork:

1. 400 - 500 g minced pork

2. 2 cloves garlic minced

3. 2 shallots minced

4. 2 slices of ginger minced

5. 1 TBS cooking oil

Directions:

1. To make medium-boiled eggs, in a small pot, bring to boil and add the eggs. Reduce heat to 6.5 on my stove and cook for 7 minutes. Drain in cold water immediately and remove the shell. Place the eggs into a bowl filled with some soy sauce and grated to get a little color on the eggs.

2. To make the ramen noodles, I add 400 g of white wholewheat flour into the Phillips VIVA pasta machine. Add 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 tsp of kansui alkaline water and fill the rest of the container up to 180ml with water. Pour it into the machine gradually. The machine will rotate to knead the flour into a dough and extrude it into noodles. I am not sure if it tastes like ramen noodles, but we like it enough :-)

4. On a wok, fry garlic, shallots and minced ginger until fragrant.

5. Add minced pork and fry until it's no longer pinkish.

6. To make soup, in a pot, fry garlic, shallots and minced ginger until fragrant.

7. Add 3 tablespoons of miso paste.

7. Add 1 tablespoon of sake.

8. Add 1 tablespoon of ground sesame.

9. Add in chicken broth or pork broth.

10. Add 1 cup of soy milk - I use homemade soy milk myself made from the soymilk machine, but store-bought one is fine.

11. Let it simmer, while you cook the noodles.

12. Bring to boil a pot of water - make sure you it's quite a lot. 

13. Add noodles and cook until they float to the surface.

14. Scoop noodles into a bowl, ladle the soup over it and add your desired toppings :-) Enjoy :-)

Video Demonstration:

https://youtu.be/b9tchq2BGs8?si=XN0wtHqf18grDtyf

https://youtu.be/NiPZY3UwQn0?si=rM4moqk2cYE1J7RN

https://youtu.be/v_OzZ4V1PkM?si=4S41Kr71KHsj3f7D

https://youtu.be/2fBs5MNlK2s?si=dyC5KZGJS6c8sJSq

Additional Information:

J has a craving for ramen. The last time we had was in March. Since the restaurants are now still closed due to the Coronavirus situation. We decided to make it at home. So I started doing my research and come across this blog post from Just One cookbook. We went together to the Chinese grocery store and the supermarket to get the ingredients. J helped me to make the medium-cooked eggs and the cooking. It took us one whole day to make this dish. We were able to eat dinner only at 7 pm, which is an hour later than usual. It's a lot of work, since we also have to get the toppings ready. I also made a tare to go along, but realized it wasn't needed, since the soup is already very favorable with the miso paste, etc. Fortunately Daddy FECS like the ramen and the soup base too :-) He took an additional serving.

I like to add soy milk into the soup base of the ramen. I learned it from Just One Cookbook, and it does make the soup richer and even more nutritious :-)

I use the Philips VIVA pasta maker to make the ramen noodles. 

References:

https://www.justonecookbook.com/homemade-chashu-miso-ramen/

https://www.justonecookbook.com/vegetarian-ramen/

https://pinchandswirl.com/homemade-ramen-noodles/

https://gingerandscotch.com/homemade-ramen-noodles-from-scratch/

https://youtu.be/nC4t1LDDt4A?si=UoOeUriAhMTWa_Qv

https://youtu.be/2fBs5MNlK2s?si=NCn4802wsCZ9Z3SP

Sorry, the eggs didn't look so good, because my son was playing with it and poking holes into them. But they tasted good :-)

Cook the noodles

Updates:

Japanese Ramen Noodle Soup 日本拉麺

Adapted from Just One Cookbook

Serves 2

Ingredients:
1. 2 portions of ramen
2. 150g pork belly sliced in strips
3. 1 inch ginger grated
4. 2 cloves of garlic minced
5. 2 shiitake mushrooms sliced thinly
6. 2 king oyster mushrooms sliced thinly
7. 50g or 1 bunch of enoki mushrooms loosened
8. 50g or a handful of bean sprouts (optional)
9. 2 leaves of xiao bai cai (optional)
10. 2 tiger prawns
11. 2 eggs (荷包蛋 he bao dan)
12. 1 TBS sasame oil.
13. 1 TBS spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang)
14. 1 TBS sake (optional)
15. 1 TBS Mentsuyu
16. 1 TBS Japanese rice vinegar
17. 1 tsp. miso paste
18. 1 tsp. soya sauce
19. 1 litre of water or homemade stock
20. 1 stalk spring onions chopped for garnish (optional)
21. A handful of Katsuobushi (dried bonito flakes) (optional)
22. 1 tsp. Chiu Chow Chilli oil (optional)

Directions:
1. Meanwhile, fry eggs, drain away excess oil and set aside.
2. Heat wok with sesame oil over medium high heat, add garlic and ginger and fry until golden.
3. Add spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang), stir and mix well.
4. Add the meat and fry until cooked.
5. Add the shiitake, king oyster mushrooms and enoki mushrooms and fry until cooked.
6. Add sake, Mentsuyu and water and bring to a boil for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
7. Add 1 litre water/stock. It will sizzle. for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.
8. Add add miso paste, soy sauce and Japanese rice vinegar.
9. Add tiger prawns, remove from broth when it is cooked (it turns red) and set aside.
10. Add bean sprouts and xiao bai cai, cook for 30 seconds, remove from broth and set aside.
11. Concurrently, boil a separate pot of water and cook noodles according to package instructions, drain and portion into 2 large bowls.
12. Add toppings i.e. 1 prawn, 1 egg, mushrooms and vegetables (beansprouts and xiaobaicai) into each bowl.
13. Pour in the hot broth into the bowls.
14. Garnish with spring onions and bonito flakes and serve hot :-)
15. If you like it extra spicy, add chilli oil into your noodle soup

Additional Information:
Actually Ramen is a Chinese dish introduced by the Chinese immigrants in Japan. It means 拉麺 (la mian) in Chinese. It is also called 大碗面 (big bowl noodle) in Chinese. But it has become known to be a Japanese dish known as Japanese Ramen. We tried this for the first time today. It's wonderful to have a bowl of hot Ramen noodle soup during the cold and wet autumn.

I reduce the meat from 250g to 150g, because I think it is too much meat. I added more vegetables to the noodle soup, because I love vegetables and it is healthier. I also increase the water/stock, because I love soup.

References:
http://www.justonecookbook.com/tsukemen-dipping-noodles/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen

Main ingredients

Seasonings

You can buy pork belly from Netto for 69 DKK for 1.2 kg.

Prepare the eggs. I like mine done like 荷包蛋 Chinese Pocket Egg.

Heat wok with sesame oil over medium high heat

Add garlic.

 Add ginger and fry until golden.

Add spicy chili bean paste (la doubanjiang).

Stir and mix well.

Add the meat.

Fry until cooked.

Add the shiitake mushrooms.

Add the king oyster mushrooms.

Break loose, add the enoki mushrooms and fry until cooked (very fast).

5. Add 1 TBS sake (optional, I didn't add it here) and 1 TBS Mentsuyu.

Add 1 litre of water. It will sizzle.

  

or add homemade stock. Since I have some left-over stock today, I use a mixture of water and stock. Don't worry, if you don't have stock. As the bean paste is very savory, this dish will still taste good, even if it is not made from stock.

Bring to a boil for a few minutes until the alcohol evaporates.

Add 1 tsp. soy sauce.

Add 1 tsp. miso paste.

Add 1 TBS Japanese rice vinegar and simmer for 10 minutes under low heat.

Add tiger prawns, remove from soup when it is cooked (it turns red) and set aside. 

Add bean sprouts.

Add xiao bai cai, cook for 30 seconds or until just done, quickly remove from soup and set aside. Don't overcook the vegetables.

You can add in the noodles at this time into the soup, especially if you are using fresh noodles, and cook for 1 minutes or until the noodles are done. 

OR

You can while making the soup, boil a separate pot of water concurrently for the noodles. If I have the time, I prefer to cook the noodles separately to remove any wax or preservatives that come with packet noodles.

When water boils, cook noodles.

Once noodles is cooked, drain and divide portions into two serving bowls.

Add toppings of egg, prawns and vegetables.

Pour in the hot soup and garnish with spring onions and bonito flakes. Serve hot :-)

If you like it extra spicy, add 1-2 tsp of chilli oil into your soup.

Our Little FECS (6Y7M6D) enjoying his bowl of Japanese Ramen :-)