Black Bean Chili Sauce Sugar Snap Pea Shrimp Noodles (黑豆辣椒蜜豆蝦麵, Hak1 Dau6 Laat6 Ziu1 Mat6 Dau6 Haa1 Min6)

The crunchiness of the sugar snap peas contrasts nicely with the texture of the shrimp in this slightly spicy black bean chili sauce noodle dish. You would think that stir fried noodle dishes are easy to make (and they are), but the number of ingredients contained in this common dish can be large, making the preparation and cooking these dishes at home a process longer than one would expect. This really isn’t a problem in a restaurant because of the high heat available to heat the wok. In a restaurant, the ingredients are added one after the other to the wok without really affecting the high temperature, resulting in a tasty quick cooking dish. This is not true for a typical home kitchen because the heat source is not as powerful as that found in restaurants. So if the restaurant method was used at home to cook the dish, the first ingredient would stir fry because the temperature would be high, but the subsequent ingredients would steam rather than brown because the temperature would drop with each added ingredient. Hence the need for the home cook to reheat the wok before adding and then removing each ingredient separately in order to stir fry, rather than steam, the ingredients. I’ve used this wok cooking method at home even though I have a special wok burner in my kitchen, which doesn’t approach the heat generated in a restaurant, but is hotter than the typical heat source found in most home kitchens. So if you’re stir frying over a typical kitchen stove burner, the time needed to cook a dish is longer since the time needed to reheat the wok is longer.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

¾ lb.	375 g.	Prawn or shrimp meat (蝦仁, haa1 jan4)
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Corn starch (粟粉, suk1 fan2)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
1 tsp.	5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)
½ lb.	250 g.	Sugar snap peas (蜜豆, mat6 dau6)
8	8	Dried Shiitake mushrooms (冬菇, dung1 gu1), rehydrated and cut into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces
10.5 oz.	297 g.	One 20 oz. (566 g.) can bamboo shoot strips (筍, seon2), drained, or use fresh if available
3 stalks	3 stalks	Green onions (葱, cung1), cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal
½ in.	15 mm.	Knob of ginger (薑, goeng1), crushed in a garlic press
2 cloves	2 cloves	Garlic (蒜, syun3), crushed in a garlic press
1 lb.	454 g.	One package chow mein noodles (炒麵, caau2 min6)
		Oil for cooking

 

Sauce Ingredients

2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Laoganma brand Black Bean Chili Sauce (黑豆辣椒油, hak1 dau6 laat6 ziu1 jau4) or equivalent
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Soy sauce (豉油, si6 jau4)
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Hoisin sauce (海鮮醬, hoi2 sin1 zoeng3)
2 Tbs.	30 ml.	Shaoxing rice wine (紹興酒, siu6 hing1 zau2) or dry sherry
½ tsp.	2.5 ml.	Ground white pepper (白胡椒, baak6 wu4 ziu1)
½ Tbs.	7.5 ml.	Sesame oil (麻油, maa4 jau4)

 

Equipment

		Garlic press
14 in.	35.5 cm.	Wok or pan

 

Laoganma Brand
Black Bean Chili Sauce
(黑豆辣椒油,
hak1 dau6 laat6 ziu1 jau4)

Preparation Instructions

1. If using frozen prawn or shrimp, thaw in a covered container overnight in the refrigerator. Take the shrimp out of the refrigerator at least one hour before cooking. Shell and devein the shrimp, and marinate for at least one hour with the ginger crushed in a garlic press, corn starch, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil. In the USA, the names prawn and shrimp are used interchangeably, with prawn usually meaning a large shrimp; either will work in this dish.
2. Pour boiling water over the dried Shiitake mushrooms in a heat proof bowl and rehydrate the mushrooms for at least one hour. Remove the Shiitake mushrooms from the rehydration liquid, remove the stems, and cut them into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces. Reserve the rehydration liquid for later use in the cooking process.
3. Wash and remove the string from the sugar snap peas by grasping each sugar snap pea in one hand and pulling the tip the length of the sugar snap pea with the other.
4. Open and drain the can with the bamboo shoots, or use fresh if available (wash first). Remove as much water as possible to facilitate stir frying.
5. Crush the ginger and garlic in a garlic press and put into a small bowl.
6. Wash and cut the green onions into 1-inch (2.5 cm.) pieces on the diagonal.
7. Prepare and mix the sauce in a small bowl: add the Laoganma brand Black Bean Chili Sauce or equivalent, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, ground white pepper, and sesame oil.

Cooking Instructions

1. Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package and until the noodles are al dente. Drain the noodles and set aside. If using thawed, ready-made, or fresh noodles, “fluff” the noodles to separate them (i.e. you don’t want put a single mass of noodles into the wok).
2. Heat a wok or pan over high heat before adding oil. Add the shrimp to the wok in a single layer on the bottom and stir fry until the shrimp just turn pink. The shrimp should look undercooked. You may have to cook the shrimp in batches, so be sure to reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil. Transfer the shrimp to a bowl.
3. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the Shiitake mushrooms. Stir fry the mushrooms and then transfer them to the bowl with the shrimp.
4. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the bamboo shoots. Stir fry the bamboo shoots and then transfer them to the bowl with the shrimp.
5. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding oil and then the sugar snap peas. Stir fry the sugar snap peas to brown them. Add the bowl with the ginger and garlic mixture, and then some oil to the mixture. Quickly stir fry all the ingredients until the ginger and garlic mixture becomes fragrant. Transfer the contents of the wok to the bowl with the shrimp.
6. Reheat the wok over high heat before adding more oil and then the noodles. The wok should be very hot before adding the oil and then the noodles. Noodles cooked in a restaurant wok (over much higher heat than that available in your kitchen) are served slightly burned, which gives the noodles an extra added flavor.  To try to emulate slightly burned noodles, try to put the noodles in one layer in the hot wok and add some mushroom rehydration liquid (but not too much liquid otherwise you’ll steam the noodles) to facilitate the heat transfer from the wok to the noodles, and leave the noodles alone. You want the noodles to get burned before adding more oil to the noodles and turning them over, repeating the process.
7. Add the green onions and the contents of the bowl with the shrimp back into the wok, and stir fry all the ingredients together. Add the sauce ingredients to the wok and mix the ingredients together. Put the cooked ingredients into a serving dish and serve immediately.