Braised noodles fail in two ways: too much liquid, which turns them into soup, or stirring too early, which breaks them. The fix is to keep the sauce below the noodle layer and to leave the lid on until the strands have taken up what they need.
Chinese · Main
Green Bean Braised Noodles Steamed in the Vegetable Liquid
Pork, green beans and potato braised in a shallow pool of sauce, with fresh noodles laid on top to steam rather than boil. The liquid is measured so the noodles absorb it.
- Prep15 min
- Cook30 min
- Serves3
- LevelEasy
Ingredients
| 500 g | fresh hand-pulled noodles |
| 50 g | pork , cut into thin strips |
| 300 g | green beans , topped, tailed and snapped in half |
| 1 | potato , peeled and cut into thick strips |
| 20 g | onion , sliced |
| 1 tsp | garlic , minced |
| 1 tbsp | oyster sauce |
| 1 tbsp | light soy sauce |
| 1 tbsp | chilli oil , optional |
| to taste | salt |
| 300 ml | water |
Method
- Heat a wide pan with a little oil and fry the pork strips until they lose their raw colour.
- Add the garlic and stir for a few seconds, then the green beans and potato and turn them in the oil for two minutes.
- Add the soy sauce and oyster sauce, stir to coat, then pour in the water. It should come about halfway up the vegetables, not cover them.
- Cover and simmer until the potato is soft enough to pierce with a chopstick.
- If there is a lot of liquid left, spoon some out into a bowl and keep it. You want a shallow pool, not a stew.
- Scatter the noodles over the vegetables in an even layer and drizzle the chilli oil and the reserved liquid over them.
- Cover and steam over low heat for 8 minutes without stirring.
- Lift the lid, add the onion, then toss from the bottom up so the noodles pick up the sauce, and serve.
Notes
- Do not stir before the noodles have steamed. They need to set first, or they turn into short pieces.
- Fresh noodles work better than dried here. Dried ones need more water, which defeats the method.
Ratios and technique checked against 泥大鳅鳅鳅鳅鳅 on Douguo (豆角焖面). The method here is written by Stellaok and the illustration is ours; no text or photograph from the source is reproduced.