Kid Friendly Zha Jiang Mian
Equipment
- 1 large pot (for noodles)
- 1 medium size pot (to make the minced pork aka zha jiang)
Ingredients
- 4 pcs knife cut noodles ($3.93)
- 250 g minced pork ($2.25)
- 1 clove garlic ($0.07)
- 2 shallots ($0.12)
- 1 tbsp oil ($0.17)
- 1 cup water (for making zha jiang sauce)
- 4 l water (for cooking noodles)
- 2 tsp oil (for cooking noodles) ($0.06)
- 2 tsp salt (for cooking noodles) ($0.01)
Marinade Ingredients
- ½ tbsp soy sauce ($0.04)
- ½ tbsp sesame oil ($0.11)
- ½ tbsp shao xing wine optional ($0.02)
- ¼ tsp salt
- dash white pepper
Additional DIY Sauce for Noodles
- 2 tbsp soy sauce ($0.09)
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce ($0.13)
- 1½ tbsp sesame oil ($0.34)
- 1½ tbsp shao xing wine ($0.06)
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce ($0.23)
- ½ tsp sugar
Instructions
Prepare the meat
- Defrost the meat, drain and squeeze out excess water
- Marinate the meat with marinate ingredients and let it sit for about 30 minutes. This step is optional but adds flavour.
Prep Additional DIY Top Up Sauce
- Mix all the ingredients of the sauce together in a bowl while meat is marinated.
Cook the Meat
- Heat wok or deep pot thoroughly.
- Add oil and let it heat fully
- Add the shallots. Then the garlic. Lightly toast the aromatics in the oil. Do not brown them.
- Add the marinated minced pork and stir fry it until it is almost fully cooked.
- Add water, bring it to a boil and let it simmer for 15 min.
Prepare the noodles
- In a large pot, bring water to a rolling boil.
- Add in a 2 tsp of oil and 2 tsp of salt.
- Add in knife cut noodles and let them cook till they are al dente. I find it takes about 6 - 8 minutes.
- Once cooked, drain and add to serving bowls.
Assembly
- My kids love to assemble this on their own. So you can serve up the minced pork sauce, additional DIY sauce and noodles for them to make their own bowl.
Notes
The sauce recipe freezes well. Keep it stocked in your freezer for quick "instant" noodles.
I have left out fermented bean paste, hoisin sauce, red and white vinegar to keep the taste light, familiar and healthy for my kids. The additional DIY sauce gives it a flavour boost and you can use it in moderation.
To keep it healthy, I also left out the corn starch slurry to reduce the carb load of the meal. The sauce is runnier but no less delicious.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!