My dad’s family is originally from Northern China, where wheat is the staple crop and reigns supreme. The food there is dominated by wheat-flour products such as noodles, dumplings, and steamed buns stuffed with salty pork and cabbage or sweet red bean paste. My mom’s family is from the south of China, in Guandong, where rice production is much more prevalent. When I was growing up, my family liked to tease me that I could never decide between noodles or rice, wanting and loving them both, due to my diverse family tree. This is as true now as it was then – there will always, always be carbohydrates in my future.

However, possibly my favorite dish in the world – one that I always request at Chinese restaurants – is beef chow fun, a staple Cantonese dish that combines the best of both worlds: rice flour is made into thick, chewy noodles that are pan-fried with dark, salty soy sauce and tossed with aromatic beef, crisp bean sprouts, and bright scallions. I have always loved this dish – it’s so simple, but so flavorful, a Chinese comfort food that’s greater than the sum of its parts and distinct in its flavor. You’ve probably had beef chow fun before – it’s quite popular, and usually on the menu of any restaurant that serves Cantonese food. But it’s also incredibly easy to make if you can source good rice noodles! There are only a handful of other ingredients, it takes about 30 minutes, and the seasoning is straightforward, relying on soy sauce, sesame oil, and, if you have it, Shaoxing wine. It’s so easy, in fact, that this time, as I was busy gabbing away on the phone to my girlfriends, James made this entire dish himself, following the recipe he found on The Woks of Life! That’s right – these pictures all represent his cooking and his alone – what a good little Asian chef!

When buying rice noodles, fresh noodles are best and tastiest, although dried noodles will also work. Fresh rice noodles can be found at most Asian supermarkets, in the refrigerated section with the fresh wheat noodles and probably next to tofu and bean sprouts. They’ll be labeled as rice noodles, but could also be labeled as “he fen,” “hor fun,” “sha ho fon,” or some variant there of. Sometimes it can be sold as whole sheets instead of noodles – this is the same thing, you’ll just have to cut the sheets yourself into approximately 1/2- to 3/4-inch strips. Chow fun is traditionally made with wide rice noodles, but it’s versatile so feel free to substitute whatever you can find (if you substitute wheat noodles, you’re not really making chow fun anymore, but I do believe it will still taste good, and the name hardly matters!). For dried rice noodles, you might find them at any large supermarket (A Taste of Thai is a brand I see in American markets), but they’ll be in Asian supermarkets as well, with the other dried noodles.

Some other notes:

• Like with many other stir-fried Chinese dishes that are traditionally made with a wok, less is more. As in, less ingredients in the pan at once. Often times these dishes are only made 1 or 2 servings at a time, so as to not crowd the wok and impede free movement of food and good sear. However, if you’ve been following me, you’ll know that one of the largest culinary faux-pas I make is to crowd the pan against everyone’s warning, because I am lazy and want to make as much food as I can with the least amount of time and effort possible. This results in a softer, saucier, wetter dish, as opposed to the drier, charred, chewier noodles you find at restaurants. The weight of all the food in the pan also can cause the noodles to break up into smaller pieces, as you see in the pictures. The flavors, however, will still be delicious, and, for a weeknight meal, this is perfectly ok! If, however, you would like a drier, more seared noodle dish, halve the recipe, or cook it in two batches.
• High heat is important! It will appropriately sear the beef and the noodles, and bring out all of the flavors. If you fear that the noodles are burning, you’re doing it right!
• Consistently tossing the noodles once you’ve added them will keep them from sticking to each other and distribute all the flavors and sauce.
• Shaoxing wine will give the dish a more authentic, complex flavor, but we actually didn’t have any when James made it this time, and it was still delicious.
• This dish is very versatile. The ingredient quantities are all quite flexible – if you want the dish to be meatier, add more meat; if you love noodles as I do, add more noodles, etc.!

We served this with some sauteed pea shoots. Total time to dinner, including sides: about 40 minutes. Easy peasy!

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Beef Chow Fun

Adapted (by James!) from The Woks of Life

Ingredients

Marinade:

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespooon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon regular soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry)
• 1 tablespoon canola or other neutral oil

For the chow fun:

• 1 pound beef skirt, flank, sirloin, or tenderloin
• 2 pounds fresh wide rice noodles, or 1 pound dried wide rice noodles
• 4 tablespoons peanut, vegetable, or canola oil
• 5-7 thin slices ginger
• 1 bunch scallions, split in half vertically and sliced into 3-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup Shaoxing wine (or dry sherry or water)
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce (can substitute regular soy sauce here, the final color of the dish will just be a lighter brown)
• 1/4 cup regular soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 pound fresh bean sprouts
• Salt and white pepper, to taste

Instructions

• Slice beef against the grain into 1/4-inch strips. Combine the beef strips and all of the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and mix gently, until all of the beef is coated. Let sit for at least 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
• If using fresh rice noodles, take them out from the fridge and allow them to come to room temperature. You'll add fresh noodles directly to the pan with the oil, ginger, and scallions without any pre-cooking.

  If using dried rice noodles, prepare according to package instructions. Different brands may have slightly different instructions, and some may ask you to soak the noodles, boil them, or both. Cook the rice noodles according to package instructions until cooked through, but still a bit chewy inside - the noodles will cook further as you stir fry them with the beef. Rinse rice noodles with cold water and drain. If you're not ready to use them yet, add about 1 tablespoon of sesame oil to the drained noodles and gently toss to combine noodles with a thin coat of oil. This will prevent the noodles from sticking to each other as you stir fry them.
• Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat until hot, and add 2 tablespoons oil to coat the pan. Add the beef and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned on the outside and slightly pink on the inside, about 3-5 minutes. Remove the beef from the pan and set aside.
• Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the pan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and scallions and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the rice noodles evenly in the pan, and toss immediately with tongs or a large spatula to mix with the oil and aromatics, about 15 seconds. Add the Shaoxing wine, sherry, or water, and toss again to combine.
• Add the beef mixture to the pan, along with the sesame oil, soy sauces, and sugar. Immediately toss again, flipping and turning the noodles to make sure that noodles are evenly coated with the beef and sauce mixture.
• Add the bean sprouts and cook, tossing, until sprouts are just tender. Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if desired. Give everything a final toss, and serve!

Fried rice is my comfort food, my heritage. I grew up eating egg fried rice for breakfast, which my mom would make frying up leftover white rice with heavily seasoned scrambled eggs and a handful of bright green scallions. I still remember waking up for school, hearing the sizzle of rice meeting hot oil, smelling the fragrant odors wafting from the kitchen, and eating the piping hot bowl at the kitchen table while watching my mom prepare my lunch.

Nowadays, my fried rice recipe has evolved a bit, but not much. It’s still easy to throw together, uses up any leftover vegetables you might have, and extremely forgiving. The marinade is all James, and adds a delightful, complex flavor to the meat and the rice. Secretly, I think James makes this fried rice better than me.

Now, let’s talk ingredients. If you scroll down to the recipe, you’ll see that I tell you to include a generic “2 cups of vegetables.” Is that exasperating? Please hear me out. The truth is, when I first sat down to write this recipe, it was hard! We never measure the vegetables, and we often end up using whatever looks fresh at the market or whatever’s left in the fridge. So I thought about what ingredients we both liked the most, and most frequently include. The original recipe, instead of the 2 cups of vegetables, consisted of a 1/2 pound of snow peas or sugar snap peas (or 1 cup fresh or frozen peas), 1 (8-ounce) can of bamboo shoots, and 1 (8-ounce) can of water chestnuts. However, I sat on this recipe for a long time because it didn’t feel truthful. These might be the most common vegetables we put in, but they appear in this exact combination maybe 20% of the time. The other 80% of the time, we forget water chestnuts at the store, we forget the bamboo even though they’re right there on the counter, and we have bell peppers and baby carrots that have been hanging around in the fridge foreeeeever… and so you get what you see in the pictures. Honestly, James and I make this fried rice differently almost every single time.

So then I realized – and this is a revelation I had on the bus coming home from work – why hide the exciting and empowering possibility of an eminently modifiable recipe? And who am I to dampen your creativity and your own preferences? Thus the “2 cups of vegetables,” and I think that the way it’s written now feels a lot more honest, a lot more truthful to my process. By now, James and I have made fried rice every which way – with the peas, bamboo shoots, and water chestnuts described above, with the diced bell peppers and carrots shown in the photos, or in combination with many, many other things – diced zucchini, chopped broccoli, corn, green onions. And it’s come out delicious every single time. (The onion – I kept in. Because onions are magical)

So don’t be afraid to experiment! You can also try it with beef instead of chicken. You can substitute tofu for a vegetarian option – still marinade it the same way, but leave out the fish sauce (Don’t forget to press and drain the tofu first to get rid of excess moisture!). If you’re using vegetables of different hardiness and cook times (for example carrots and bell peppers), add the hardier vegetable such as the carrot first, cook for two minutes or so, then add the other vegetable. Quantities are also not set in stone – don’t worry if you’re a bit low on vegetables, or have too much chicken. It will all come together in the end, as fried rice invariably, inevitably, uniquely does. And then let me know what you did in the comments!

A note about Shaoxing wine: it is a rice wine with a translucent amber color, made from fermented rice. It contains anywhere from 15-20% alcohol, and has a complex flavor that’s slightly sweet, spicy, and nutty. It can be drunk as a beverage – try some! Mostly, though, I use it to flavor the protein in everything Chinese I make (and probably some non-Chinese dishes too) – most often in marinades, or if I get lazy, I just add a splash of it when I’m sautéing chicken or beef. Like using red or white wine in cooking, Shaoxing wine adds a wonderful depth of flavor to the resulting dish. You can buy Shaoxing wine in any Asian supermarket, and I really hope you’ll seek some out! It’s not expensive, will last many months, and really does make a difference in Chinese cooking. There are lots of varieties, most of which are probably fairly similar. However, DO NOT buy Shaoxing “cooking wine” (like how you shouldn’t buy any other “cooking wines” to cook with either) or any Shaoxing wine that contains salt – these will be inferior, low-grade versions that taste terrible. If you can’t find Shaoxing wine, dry sherry makes the closest substitute.

As a final note, this makes an incredible amount of fried rice. We eat it with a side vegetable – some sautéed Napa cabbage or spinach, and the rice will last at least six meals. If that’s too much for you, just halve the recipe. If you do find yourself a bit short on chicken (or whatever your chosen protein is), still use all of the quantities specified in the marinade, as all that sauce will help season the final dish.

We served this with a side of sauteed Napa cabbage, and it was warm enough to eat dinner outside on the patio! A win for my sunshine-starved self AND for getting one photo in the last rays of natural light!

Total time for dinner: 1 hour 20 minutes

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Chicken and Shrimp Fried Rice

Ingredients

Fried Rice:

• 1 pound chicken breast or boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 3/4 pound shrimp, rinsed, peeled, and deveined
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp minced or finely chopped ginger
• 1 onion, chopped
• About 2 cups vegetables of your choice, cleaned, trimmed, and diced or cut into bite-sized pieces
• 6-7 eggs, scrambled
• 5 cups cooked white rice
• Vegetable or canola oil
• Salt and black pepper

Marinade:

• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons Shaoxing wine or dry sherry
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon hoisin sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• Black pepper
• Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

Instructions

• Marinade the chicken: Cut the chicken against the grain into flat, thin strips and mix with all of the marinade ingredients. Let sit while you prep the vegetables and scramble the eggs, or at least 15 minutes.
• Put 1-2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil into a large frying pan, skillet, or wok (make sure it is at least 4 quarts to fit all the ingredients! You can even use a Dutch oven) and heat over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add the garlic and ginger. Cook for about 30 seconds until the garlic and ginger are fragrant. Add the chicken to the pan with all of the marinade sauce. Cook, stirring, until chicken is cooked through, about 7 minutes.
• Remove the chicken and all the juices from the pan and set aside. Tip: keep the chicken in a large bowl, so that you can add the other cooked ingredients to this bowl later. 
• Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil over medium heat in the pan. Add the shrimp and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until the shrimp is just pink and cooked, about 2-4 minutes, depending on shrimp size. Transfer to the chicken bowl.
• Add 1-2 tbsp more oil to the pan. Don’t worry if there’s chicken or shrimp bits stuck onto the pan. The moisture from the onions and vegetables will deglaze the pan. Add the onion, some salt and pepper, and cook over medium-high heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the vegetables, staggering them in 1-2 minute intervals if some are hardier than others. Cook until vegetables are tender, then scoop up vegetables and set aside. You can place them in the same bowl as the chicken and shrimp. I do this, and then try to toss the shrimp up so that they’re not cooking under the hot vegetables. It seems to work okay, and doesn’t result in overcooked shrimp. If you’re worried, use a separate bowl for the vegetables or the shrimp.
• Cook the eggs. If the pan you’re working with isn’t non-stick, I would use a separate nonstick pan to cook the eggs. You’ll have an additional pan to wash up, but it’s just easier and less fuss. Heat 1-2 tbsp of oil in the pan over medium-high heat, then add the eggs. Season with salt and pepper. Scramble until the eggs are cooked, then transfer to the bowl with the chicken and vegetable mixture. 
• In the original pan, heat 1-2 tbsp of oil over medium heat, and add the rice. Season with a few dashes of soy sauce – just swirl it loosely over the rice like you would drizzle chocolate sauce on ice cream. Toss so that all the rice is seasoned. The rice might sizzle and stick to the bottom of the pan – don’t worry! Just continue to toss and fry with the soy sauce, so that the rice itself acquires some seasoning. You’ll add the other ingredients soon enough, and the chicken and vegetable juices will magically mix with the rice to make an amazingly flavorful combination.
• Add the chicken, shrimp, vegetables, and egg into the pan with the rice, and turn heat down to medium-low. Toss well to combine. Taste and add more salt, pepper, or soy sauce if needed. I like to finish my fried rice with lots of dashes of white pepper and a drizzle of fish sauce and sesame oil (again, a light drizzle, like topping ice cream), but this is optional. The sesame oil will give it a nice earthy, umami taste. The fish sauce – although it smells terribly fishy – actually adds a nice tang and saltiness to the resulting dish. White pepper is my absolute all time favorite pepper. Feel free to scoop out a small bit of rice and experiment with seasonings!

Notes:

I tend to prefer short grain rice in my fried rice, because I like my fried rice on the dense and chewy side, but if you want a fluffier, lighter rice dish, you can easily substitute basmati.

About salting and oil: yes, the instructions are correct! A lot of salt and a lot of oil are what make restaurant fried rice so darn good. Be sure to salt all of the ingredients as you cook them. It’ll draw out the flavors of the individual ingredients, and make the finished product that much tastier. Same with the oil – yes, it’ll feel like you’re using a lot of oil, but remember that this makes an enormous amount of fried rice. The finished product won’t be too oily, I promise. The more oil you add, the more decadent and “fried” your resulting dish will taste.

About cooking the ingredients separately: Yes, it’s a pain, but doesn’t really take that much additional time, and doesn’t add too much to the dirty dish count, as you can spoon up all your cooked ingredients into one large bowl. If you’re feeling lazy, you can cook the chicken and shrimp together (add the shrimp after the chicken has been cooking for about five minutes), although this always runs the risk of overcooking the shrimp.