When we consider Beijing style dishes, most people will think of Beijing Duck. But there is another delicious traditional Beijing style dish – Noodles with Soy Bean Paste.
In a hot summer afternoon, once the day of work has finished, come back home while the sun is going down. Fill up a big bowl with noodles that have just been taken out from cold water, add some soy bean paste and vegetables, mix well. Take a bite of the mixed noodles, and a bite of fresh garlic. That is a normal Beijinger’s life, simple, but full of taste.
Noodles with Soy Bean Paste
Ingredients: (serves 2)300 g fresh egg spaghetti
3 slices bacon
200 g sweet soy bean sauce
1/2 cucumber
1 carrot
2 spring onion
1 tsp sugar
1 star anise
1 tbsp cooking wine
cooking oil
Methods:
- Cut the cucumber, carrot and spring onion into thin shreds Cut the bacon into slices with 1 cm wide.
- Heat up a wok with 3 tbsp of cooking oil over strong heat, put the star anise in, stir-fry and take out when you get a nice smell. Put in the sliced bacon, add cooking wine, stir-fry. When the bacon slices change color, pour the sweet soy bean sauce in, turn to low fire to mix and boil. When the sauce becomes thick, add sugar and mix well. Turn off the heat and take out.
- Heat up a big pot of water to boil the spaghetti until done. Rinse in cold water, drain.
- Serve the noodles together with the soy bean paste and the vegetables.
Tips:
- Make sure to use more cooking oil than normal, so the soy bean paste won’t be too dry.
- Again, you can always use as many vegetables as you like.
- The sweet soy bean sauce is salty enough, so no need to add extra salt.
