{"id":772,"date":"2018-07-03T22:31:29","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T22:31:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trialbyfryer.com\/?p=772"},"modified":"2018-07-27T21:43:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-27T21:43:18","slug":"beef-chow-fun","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trialbyfryer.com\/2018\/07\/beef-chow-fun\/","title":{"rendered":"Beef Chow Fun"},"content":{"rendered":"

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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\u00a0family 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.<\/p>\n

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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.\u00a0You’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<\/a>! That’s right – these pictures all represent his cooking and his alone – what a good little Asian chef!<\/p>\n

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When buying rice noodles, fresh noodles are best and tastiest, although dried noodles will also work. Fresh rice noodles<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n

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Some other notes:<\/p>\n