Zha Jiang Mian (Fried Sauce Noodle)

So on Monday I ordered the Zha Jiang Mian from Ling's... and it was good, but not as good as some of the ones I've had before. Shaolin Noodle Place, which looks like it finally reopened, actually have good ones. But I figure since I have all the ingredients at home, why not make a batch myself?

So you starts with infusing the flavour of ginger, garlic, and green onion.

 Throw in the pork, either grounded or cut to small pieces. You can choose to marinate it with some cooking wine and corn starch first, but I was lazy.

 When the pork had changed color, throw in the diced pressed tofu. I had some Japanese fried pressed tofu at home, but I found them to be too soft, so it is still better to use the traditional Chinese pressed tofu.

 Heat everything up a bit, then add brown sugar, then stir some more.

 Now the main ingredient, the yellow paste is miso paste, and the black paste is the "sweet bean paste" or in Chinese it is called "sweet noodle paste". I used miso paste because I don't have the Chinese version of the bean paste, or in Chinese it is called "yellow paste". But pretty much both paste is some kind of fermented soy bean, that is the main flavour in Zha Jiang Mian.

 Then stir really hard, add water to get the consistency that is good for mixing with noodles. Taste it and if you think the sauce is missing some flavour, then you can add hoisin sauce to add a level of flavour.

So you cook up the noodle, thick noodle is good with this kind of sauce. Traditionally it is julienned cucumber with the noodles, but I am out of cucumber. But any mild flavour veggie that adds crunch is good.

So here it is. Not as hard as I thought, just some cutting and dicing, and other ingredients just can out of a bottle. You can always make a batch and freeze some in a air tight container.