Beef noodles, sweet then immediately not
The sauce is three jars you already own, whisked in the time the water boils.
At a Glance
Story
The usual version wants a jarred black bean chile sauce that is a nuisance to source. Soy, brown sugar, gochujang and a teaspoon of white miso cover the same ground: salt, sweetness, fermented heat and depth. The miso is the part people skip and the part that makes it taste bought rather than assembled.
Ingredients
- 8 oz lo mein noodles
- 10 oz ground beef
- 10 oz baby bok choythinly sliced, stems and leaves kept apart
- 1 carrotshredded
- 2 scallionsthinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp gochujang
- 1 tsp white miso
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- neutral oilsalt, pepper
Method
The sweetness arrives first and politely, then the gochujang turns up. Ready before the kettle has finished sulking.
- Salted water on to boil. Whisk the soy, brown sugar, gochujang, miso and ¼ cup of warm water until the miso has dissolved completely.
- Noodles into the water, stirred apart, 3 to 5 minutes to tender. Drain, then rinse under warm water for half a minute so they stop clinging.
- Meanwhile, brown the beef in a large high-sided pan over medium high, 2 to 3 minutes, breaking it up as you go. Pour off the fat.
- Bok choy stems, carrots and scallion whites. Season, 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables give and the beef is through.
- Noodles, sauce and bok choy leaves all at once. Toss hard over the heat 1 to 2 minutes until every strand is lacquered and the leaves have wilted into it.
- Sesame seeds and scallion greens.
Chopsticks, a low table and nobody sitting up straight.
More to cook
Crisp rice cakes and sausage in a ketchup glaze
Rice cakes fried until they crackle, then lacquered in ketchup and miso with the sausage.
A full course of Italian penicillin
Chicken soup's glamorous Italian cousin, with a spicy crumb and a cold lemon dollop.
Harissa shrimp broiled over a tray of greens
The greens go in first with half a cup of water, and the shrimp only arrive once the broiler takes over.
Salt and pepper dumplings straight from the freezer
Frozen potstickers and green beans, tossed at the last second in salt, sugar and more black pepper than seems wise.
Garlic noodles the way San Francisco does them
Two heads of garlic, plenty of butter and three bottles from the cupboard, done in the time it takes to boil the pasta.
Shrimp over creamed corn, and rather a lot of feta
Corn simmered soft in cream and butter, then blitzed until chunky and used the way you would use grits.
Creamy lemon spaghetti with a Sichuan pepper buzz
Crème fraîche, miso and lemon make the sauce, and toasted Sichuan peppercorns go in twice so your lips hum.
Chicken sausage and lemon, baked as a lasagna
A lasagna that went on holiday and came back with a tan and a lemon habit.
Pumpkin pasta with sausage and crisp sage
Tinned pumpkin, Gruyère and a sheet pan to crisp the lot.
Sausage lasagna spread thin for the crust
Lasagna with no layers, baked flat on a sheet pan, and an insult to nonnas everywhere.
Vodka rigatoni, baked till the tops crackle
Vodka sauce given a sheet pan, a jar of Calabrian chilis and a honey drizzle it did nothing to deserve.
Charred corn and halloumi panzanella with chili crisp
One bowl, mostly made in the morning, so the cook can sit down with the guests.
Chicken and zucchini meatballs under a feta sauce
Half the meatball is grated zucchini, which is the only reason a chicken meatball has any business being this juicy.
Dan dan noodles, served cold on purpose
The sesame and chile sauce is bossy enough to work as a dressing, so the noodles never need to be hot.
Zucchini parmesan, roasted not fried
All the comfort of the fried original, a fraction of the oil, and no pan spitting at you.