Beef Chow Fun (干炒牛河) – Omnivore’s Cookbook

Do-it-yourself beef chow enjoyable options thick, chewy noodles, tender juicy steak, and crisp veggies introduced along with a aromatic brown sauce. Prepare dinner these restaurant-style fried noodles in your house kitchen with ease utilizing my recipe! {Gluten-Free Adaptable}

Beef chow enjoyable is a traditional and well-liked Cantonese dish that everybody loves. The dish combines huge rice noodles (ho enjoyable) with beef slices and greens stir fried with aromatics and a brown sauce. It could be a dish that you simply typically order from a Chinese language restaurant. However do you know that it’s fairly straightforward to make it in your individual kitchen so long as you may collect the fitting substances?

Beef chow enjoyable substances

What sort of rice noodles to make use of?

The kind of rice noodles you employ makes the most important affect on beef chow enjoyable. 

Contemporary rice noodles 

The very best sort of rice noodles are the contemporary rice noodles and it’s the kind we all the time use in China. They’re fats, chewy noodles made with rice flour and water. Typically they’re bought in giant sheets, and generally lower into noodles. You’ll find them in Chinatown, Chinese language markets, and Thai markets. The noodles are normally in a plastic bag and bought with different contemporary substances (not refrigerated). 

It’s the very best sort of noodle to make use of, if you’ll find them, as a result of they yield the very best texture.

Dried Chinese language ho enjoyable

Sha he fen (沙河粉), also called ho enjoyable or sha hor enjoyable, are huge, flat rice noodles that originate from the city of Shahe in Guangzhou, China. These noodles are a staple in Cantonese delicacies and are recognized for his or her easy, barely chewy texture. 

My favourite sort of dried ho enjoyable is the one from the Mala Market. As soon as cooked, it has a skinny, mild and easy texture, and it absorbs sauce very properly.

Dried Thai or Vietnamese rice noodles

The opposite extra generally seen rice noodles are the Thai or Vietnam sort. Each Taste of Thai and Three Girls have the huge sort that’s nice for beef chow enjoyable.

In comparison with the Chinese language sha ho enjoyable, the Thai and Vietnamese sort rice noodles are thicker and chewier. You would possibly want this texture relying in your private style, however I feel the Chinese language model works barely higher on this dish.

A phrase on beef chow enjoyable sauce substances

There are various methods to place collectively the meat chow enjoyable sauce. I’ve seen many recipes that use oyster sauce. However my Cantonese chef pal informed me that they solely use soy sauce, for a cleaner, extra refreshing style. 

My beef chow enjoyable solely comprises 4 substances:

• Rooster broth
• Mild soy sauce (for umami)
• Darkish soy sauce (for the sunshine caramel taste and the darkish brown colour)
• Sugar

If you happen to use loads of contemporary aromatics (like on this recipe) and a few good rice noodles, you solely want this straightforward sauce for a really flavorful noodle dish that is stuffed with umami.

Mise en place

Since cooking beef chow enjoyable requires you to maneuver shortly, you wish to have every part ready previous to the stir fry:

• Sliced and marinated beef
• Blended sauce
• Sliced aromatics (onion, inexperienced onion white half, ginger, and garlic)
• Bean sprouts
• Ready rice noodles
• Sesame oil

Word, I grouped some substances collectively as a result of you’ll add them on the identical level within the stir fry. It makes the workflow simpler, plus you’ll have fewer plates to scrub.

Easy methods to cook dinner beef chow enjoyable

Put together the rice noodles

Dried rice noodles

If utilizing dried rice noodles, you’ll need to pre-soak or cook dinner them previous to the stir fry. You must all the time comply with the bundle directions, however soak or cook dinner the noodles a bit shorter for an al dente texture. This manner, the noodles received’t crumble simply in the course of the stir frying and can preserve a pleasant, chewy texture.

Contemporary rice noodles

If utilizing contemporary noodles, you’ll need to chop the rice noodle sheets into huge noodles. After chopping, use your fingers to separate the noodles in order that they don’t stick collectively. 

NOTE: Don’t use water to rinse the noodles. It would make the separation course of simpler, however this step makes the noodles soggy and vulnerable to falling aside in the course of the stir fry. 

You also needs to keep away from storing the contemporary noodles within the fridge, which makes them inflexible and exhausting to separate later. 

Make the stir fry

Making beef chow enjoyable is sort of straightforward after you have all of the substances prepared:

1. Sear the meat and switch it to a plate
2. Prepare dinner the aromatics
3. Toss the noodles
4. Add again the meat
5. Pour within the sauce and toss every part collectively
6. Stir fry with the bean sprouts
7. Add the inexperienced a part of the inexperienced onion
8. Ultimate toss

As soon as accomplished, you’ll have a plate of tremendous aromatic noodles that style identical to those you discover in Chinese language eating places. The noodles will likely be chewy and stuffed with taste, the meat juicy and tender, and the greens crunchy and crispy.

Cookware for making beef chow enjoyable

You don’t want a wok

If you happen to have a look at any genuine beef chow enjoyable recipe, it all the time requires a wok and a gasoline vary. Nevertheless, this setup may not be sensible for each residence cook dinner, particularly when you’ve an electrical range, or a gasoline range that isn’t tremendous highly effective. Learn extra on why I do not recommend a wok for beginners, and how to choose between a wok and a skillet in your stir fry station. 

If you happen to comply with my recipe, you may obtain nice outcomes with a big nonstick skillet. 

Put together a big skillet with a pair of tongs

If attainable, choose a heavy nonstick skillet in your beef chow enjoyable and each different stir fry you cook dinner. We’re not utilizing a wok right here, however excessive warmth remains to be a vital issue to creating an amazing dish. The rationale we want a big skillet is that it’ll warmth up quicker on a mean vary resulting from its giant contact floor. And a heavier pan all the time holds warmth higher, so the pan temperature received’t drop the second you add within the sauce; such a drop would trigger all of your substances to be steamed as an alternative of seared.

A pair of tongs (or cooking chopsticks) is a must have for tossing noodles, so that you don’t find yourself splashing half of the substances onto your kitchen counter.

Easy methods to make the proper beef chow enjoyable

(1) Easy methods to create juicy tender beef with a wonderfully seared floor

First, all the time lower in opposition to the grain. It’s OK to slice the meat thinly, resembling 1/8-inch thick items. Or you may lower it into 1/4-inch thick strips. Your name.

Second, all the time marinate the meat and use some cornstarch in your marinade. Not solely will it make your beef further flavorful, however it is going to additionally tenderize the meat and shield it from overcooking. It’s an “historical” Chinese language cooking hack that I exploit even when searing meat for pasta and different Western dishes.

If you happen to comply with these two steps, you may select virtually any lower of the steak and nonetheless produce nice outcomes. Nevertheless, my favourite selection is all the time flank and skirt steak, that are cheaper in worth, but well-marbled.

(2) Use a beneficiant quantity of oil

Don’t skimp on the oil when making beef chow enjoyable. If you happen to order this dish in a restaurant, generally you even see oil pooling on the underside of the dish. The home made model makes use of much less oil than the restaurant, however you continue to want sufficient to correctly cook dinner the noodles. The oil not solely prevents the noodles from sticking and falling aside, it additionally infuses the nice taste from all of the aromatics to make the noodles tastier. 

You additionally want to make use of extra oil if you don’t use a nonstick pan, as a result of rice noodles have a tendency to stay to the pan. 

(3) In terms of fried noodles, much less is extra

Identical to with pizza toppings, utilizing fewer substances will yield higher outcomes as a result of the substances received’t crowd your pan and remodel the noodles right into a stew.

(4) Easy methods to substitute substances

Beef chow enjoyable is a really versatile dish and you may tweak it with different substances you’ve at residence. In actual fact, I’ve requested my Cantonese buddies about this dish and everybody has their very own model.

Be happy so as to add some greens resembling gai lan (Chinese language broccoli) or bok choy. You’ll be able to skip the bean sprouts and use a bit extra white onion for texture. As a rule of thumb, you wish to use some crisp, crunchy veggies to boost the feel of the dish.

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Beef Chow Enjoyable (干炒牛河)