Beef Chow Fun with Gravy (豉椒牛河)

Start by slicing the beef (10 oz). Look for the lines running along the beef. Those lines are the grain of the beef, and you want to slice perpendicular to those lines in order to get the most tender slices of beef. Cut 1/4-inch thick slices across the grain.

Once the beef is all sliced up, soak the beef in a bowl of clean, cold water. The soak will get rid of the metallic flavor of myoglobin and make the beef a more appealing color when you start cooking it.

Rinse the fermented black beans (0.50 oz) in case of sand, grit, or other debris. Discard the dirty water. Then add them to a small bowl of clean, cold water and leave them to soak and soften.

Cut the yellow onion (2 oz) into large chunks by first halving the onion, then cutting the onion half once horizontally across, and then cutting vertically 4-5 times. Once you pull apart the pieces, they'll be shaped like medium-sized triangles and rectangles.

To cut the green bell pepper (0.50 oz), cut off a side or two to get however much of it you need, removing the core and seeds if needed. Cut those large pieces into thick slices. Cut each thick slice into several medium-sized triangles by changing the angle of your knife after each cut. The pieces of bell pepper should ideally be approximately the same size as the pieces of onion. Repeat with the red bell pepper (0.50 oz).

If you want, you can choose to use one color of bell pepper for the entire amount. We chose to use two colors for extra visual appeal.

Smash, peel, and mince the garlic (3 clove).

Thinly slice the ginger (1 small amount), lay them down to cut them into thin strips, then finely mince.

Drain the water from the beef, and squeeze the slices of beef to get more of the water out. The more water that the beef is holding on to, the less capacity it has to absorb the marinade, so get as much water out as you gently can.

In a bowl, create the beef marinade by combining salt (0.50 tsp), sugar (0.50 tsp), white pepper (0.25 tsp), light soy sauce (1 tsp), dark soy sauce (0.50 tsp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), cornstarch (1 tbsp), and water (2 tbsp). Mix it all up, and then add the beef. Massage the beef into the marinade to help it absorb. If you have the time, you can even massage and mix it until the beef soaks up the majority of the liquid and is super well-coated.

In this recipe, we're using steak, which is a naturally tender cut of beef. If you're using flank steak instead, you can add a touch of baking soda to the marinade as a tenderizer.

By now, the fermented black beans should be much softer. Pour out the soaking liquid and rinse the beans just one more time for good measure. Then, use your fingers or a spoon to crush the beans into a rough paste. The crushed beans will combine better into the sauce and release their flavor better.

Next, loosen up the fresh chow fun (1 lb) noodles. They're usually packaged into a compressed brick, so it's important to loosen up and separate the strands now. Otherwise, they'll clump up as you're cooking them.

Use a dry work surface, like a dry cutting board, and with clean, dry hands, massage the noodles to gently work them apart. When the noodles are all loose and separated, put them on a dish or plate.

To create the sauce, combine light soy sauce (1 tsp), dark soy sauce (0.50 tsp), oyster sauce (1 tbsp), water (3 tbsp), white pepper (0.30 tsp), salt (0.50 tsp), and sugar (0.50 tsp) in a separate bowl.

Add potato starch (1 tsp) (or cornstarch, in a slightly larger amount), which will thicken the sauce when you cook it. Stir to dissolve.

If the color here looks too pale, feel free to add more dark soy sauce. In our video, we added another tsp of dark soy sauce.

We're one step away from cooking the beef, so now is a good time to add some oil (1 tbsp) to it and mix it into the marinade. This seals in the flavor of the marinade and gives the beef a smooth, succulent texture.

Heat up the wok on high heat. One the wok is dry and hot, add just a bit of oil (1 tbsp).

We're starting with the noodles, and since fresh chow fun noodles already have some oil on them, we don't need much in the wok.

Give the oil a quick swirl to coat. Turn the heat down to medium or low, then add the noodles. Use a spatula, chopsticks, or tongs to gently spread the noodles out, so that there's a lot of surface area in contact with the wok, and more of the noodles are getting fried.

Don't move the noodles around too much as you stir-fry this side of the noodles for about one minute. The more you mix the noodles, the more the fragile rice noodles will fall apart.

Then, flip the noodles to the other side. Stir-fry this side for 30-40 seconds. Then season the noodles with light soy sauce (1 tbsp). Gently stir the sauce into the noodles to distribute. (Make sure to pay attention to the temperature in the wok, and lower the heat if necessary!) The moisture from the soy sauce should help loosen the noodles up even more.

Plate the noodles in the serving dish. If you see any big clumps of noodles, use chopsticks to gently tease them apart.

There's no need to clean the wok, as we'll continue using it to cook. Turn the heat back up and add oil (3 tbsp) to the wok.

Add the beef and lower the heat to avoid overcooking the beef. It'll get tough if you keep it at high heat! Fry it gently to keep it tender and succulent.

After about a minute, or when the beef is 60-70% cooked through, take it out and set it aside in a strainer to let excess oil drop off.

Pour out all of the oil from cooking the beef. You can set this aside to cook with in later dishes!

The residual oil that's left on the walls of the wok is enough to finish cooking the rest of our Beef Chow Fun with Gravy.

Turn the heat back up to heat up the wok. Once hot, add the minced garlic and ginger. Stir-fry the aromatics until they're fragrant, or about 10 seconds. Add the crushed fermented black beans and fry them until they're aromatic as well.

To get the residue and leftover pieces of black beans out of the bowl, use a tbsp or so of water to rinse the sides of the bowl. We'll add it to the wok in just a bit.

After 20-30 seconds of stir-frying the black beans, add the onion and bell pepper. Stir-fry the vegetables and then mix in the water from the black bean bowl. Toss everything to combine and cook them through for 10-20 seconds.

Then, add the beef back in. Stir-fry the beef for 15-20 seconds, then add the sauce. Check the consistency of the ingredients, and if the sauce is too thick, add water to thin it out. We added just a tbsp of water to get it to our preferred consistency.

Give it a taste, adjust the flavor if necessary. When it's to your liking, pour the beef, vegetables, and sauce over the noodles, and enjoy!