Thursday, April 25, 2013

乾炒牛河 Cantonese Stir-fry Beef Rice Noodles


還滿愛乾炒牛河的! 在中式餐廳看到都會想點. 感覺是非常"老廣"的親民小食, 又容易飽肚子.
沒想到自己可以複製出跟在餐廳吃差不多的味道. 以後在家就可以大快朵頤了! 關鍵是老抽和新鮮的河粉~





Ingredients:

1/2 onion, sliced.
some green bean sprouts
A little of green part of green onion
500g ~ 1lb Fresh rice noodles 河粉 ( I bought 2 bags from 德昌). No need to cook in water.
150g ~ 5.3 oz beef
Vegetable oil
Dark (Aged) soy sauce 老抽
Light soy sauce 生抽

Marinade for beef:
Dark soy sauce and light soy sauce 2:1
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp black pepper
1 tbsp potato starch 太白粉
A little water to balance the taste

- Mix the sauce in a bowl according to taste so it's salty enough but not overly salty.




Directions:

- Unfold the fresh rice noodles and cut in 1/2" width. Running fingers into the noodles to loosen them so they don't stick together. Set aside.

- Slice the beef against the direction of grain. (not too thin) Marinate in the sauce for 10 minutes.

-  Heat up some oil in the wok and cook the rice noodle till you can smell the aroma of rice. 米香味   Then remove from  the pan. (This step is optional)

- Heat up some oil the pan again and pan fry the beef slices on both sides till medium (70%) done.
  Repeat till all beef slices are cooked. Set aside.




- Again heat up some oil to stir fry the onion and green bean sprouts. Season with some dark and light soy sauce.

- Put the beef and rice noodle in and stir fry till beef is done. Season with some dark and light soy sauce to taste. Cook till all rice noodles are evenly colored, no whites showing. Add green onion segments right before turning off heat.

It's hard to say how much of each soy sauces I used. I just add a little by little to get the taste and color closest to the kind I like the most in restaurants. Light soy sauce adds saltiness and dark soy sauce adds color and a little bitterness of soy ( which is what I like!) to the dish.



老抽在這裡很重要, 不但給了河粉漂亮的醬色, 也賦予河粉獨特微微的焦香味!



Yummy dinner: Stir-fry Beef Rice Noodles  + Squid with Celery + Veggie
                          乾炒牛河 + 西芹鮮魷 + 青菜

    中芹鮮魷 Sautee Squid with Chinese Celery





    Ingredients:

    5 stalks of Chinese Celery (中芹)
    1 Squid
    1 red hot pepper ( I didn't have this time), sliced.
    ~ 1/2 tsp salt
    2 tbsp water
    Potato Starch water 太白粉水 (mix potato starch with some water)
    Vegetable cooking oil

    Directions:

    - Clean and peel the back of the celery stalks. Cut into segments.

    - Clean the squid and remove the bones and the membrane. Score diagonally the inner surface of the squid with a knife and make cross pattern. Cut the squid into pieces.

    - Bring a pot of water to boil then cook the squid pieces for a few seconds till they curl up. Remove from water then set aside.

    -  Heat up some oil in the pan. Stir fry the celery then add 2 tbsp water. 

    - Add the red hot pepper and squid. Season with salt.  

    - Add potato starch water and see it thickens. Keep on cooking to coat the ingredients with the liquid to create shinny effect.