Feb 13

炸醬麵 (Fried Sauce Noodles)

Welcome to our weekly Foodie Friday link up! I’m linking up with Annmarie from the Fit Foodie Mama, Emily from Whatever Floats Your Oats, Esther from Chocolate Runner Girl, and Cassandra from Powered By Bling, to create awesome healthy recipes each week! Today’s theme = Valentine’s Day! Make sure you hop around to check out all the amazing recipes in this link up and feel free to add your recipes as well!

I’m well aware that “Fried Sauce Noodles” (sometimes, I really hate direct translations) don’t look like the traditional recipe that you’d look for to make on Valentine’s Day, but…hear me out!

Back when I was in grad school, I was living with two dietetic interns. One of them told me about how singles eat jajangmyeon on Valentine’s Day. We were pondering on the reasoning behind this, and loosely decided that it was because if you were single, you could give zero shits about what you looked like after eating a bowl of this (it’s kinda messy).

I’ve since looked it up, and apparently, in South Korea, Valentine’s Day is when girls buy gifts for the guys (usually chocolate). White Day occurs on March 14, where the guys reciprocate the gifts with their own (also usually chocolate)…and on April 14th, also known as Black Day, singles who didn’t receive any presents on either of these days gather and wear black to commiserate over black-colored food. Since we were both single at the time (she’s happily married now :] ), we made jajangmyeon to celebrate our awesomeness.

That sounds a hell of a lot like Singles Awareness Day to me.

Celebrating #SinglesAwarenessDay tomorrow? Make #Chinese ZhaJiangMian! #recipes #FoodieFriday

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While it’s actually Valentine’s Day tomorrow instead of April 14th, I thought it’d be fun to make the bastardized improvised Chinese version of this for us happy singles out there! :] (I have no plans to commiserate.)

(Translation: I was going to use julienned carrots + cucumbers and oyster/shiitake mushrooms, but didn’t want to spend money on extra groceries.) Recipe super-adapted from here!

I also discovered a pretty awesome guide to the billion different types of Asian noodles. If you have thick noodles, use those!

炸醬麵 (Fried Sauce Noodles)

IMG_9414Ingredients:

  • 6 oz ground chicken
  • dash of sea salt
  • 1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 8 slices fresh ginger, minced
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 5 oz. fresh white button mushrooms, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp sweet bean sauce
  • 3 tbsp ground bean paste
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 cup water
  • 8 oz package of Chinese wheat noodles (yaka mien)
  • 5-6 oz. broccoli slaw

Instructions:

  1. Marinate the chicken for 15 minutes in the salt, 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/8 tsp white pepper.
  2. Heat 2 tbsp sesame oil in your pan/wok and add the marinated ground chicken to it. Cook for about a minute to brown it, then add ginger + garlic.
  3. Add chopped mushrooms + stir fry everything together for ~2-3 minutes.
  4. Add sweet bean sauce, bean paste, soy sauce and water, stirring everything together well. Lower heat + cover, then let simmer for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
  5. Cook noodles according to package directions and mix with the sauce.
  6. Toss with broccoli slaw.
  7. Enjoy!

ZhaJiangMian

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34 comments

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  1. I love the history behind this dish- so interesting! It looks really good too- I am definitely going to try it out one of these days :)
    Annmarie recently posted…Foodie Friday: Chocolate Covered Strawberry Haze Frozen ParfaitMy Profile

    1. hehehe, I loved learning about the history behind that dish too! :]

      Happy Valentine’s Day! :D

  2. Your food always looks amazing!!
    Melanie recently posted…Friday Five: LoveMy Profile

    1. Thanks, Melanie! <3 Hope you have a great weekend!

  3. That Asian noodle guide could come in handy! Thanks for sharing the tidbits about Korean “valentines” day. Very interesting!
    Julie @ Running in a Skirt recently posted…5 Fashion Rules I BreakMy Profile

    1. Yes indeed! :D I’m probably going to be referencing it for future recipes! :P

      Hope you have a great weekend! :]

    • Ricardo on February 13, 2015 at 8:56 am
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    For me? You shouldn’t have! =p

    1. hahaha, tis a wonderful dish! :D

  5. That’s interesting how south koreans celebrate “valentine’s day”. I think it’s so cool how they do things differently than us. I love learning about other cultures!
    Channing recently posted…Valentine’s Day Roundup: Netflix EditionMy Profile

    1. Same here! :] This one in particular is a fun one to celebrate! :P

  6. Farrah, I think you’ve outdone yourself here, this looks amazing! Shawn would LOVE this one. He’s very taken with his Chinese lately (oddly, given we’re in Thailand lol).
    jess meddows recently posted…Metropole Guesthouse KatoombaMy Profile

    1. hahaha, welll, it’s all in the general vicinity of Asia, so it works in my mind! ;P Thank you! I’m still craving Thai food at the moment, so I’m gonna have to do something to fix that! :O

  7. Oh! You know I’m trying this recipe. Dang, it looks good!!
    Earl-Leigh recently posted…My Favorite Eff Words and Valentine’s DayMy Profile

    1. Thank you! I hope you like it! :D

  8. One of my old Korean co-workers had told me about those noodles…since I was single and Korean. Never had them but this recipe looks delicious!!
    Alanna recently posted…What I’m Loving Lately {Valentine’s Edition}My Profile

    1. hehehe, I liked learning about the story behind it! I don’t think we have something like that in Chinese traditions/culture (as far as I know)!

  9. Ahhhh I loved eating these noodles growing up? SO GOOD!! Not going to lie, this is one of the things I miss the most as a vegetarian. Yum!
    genevieve @ gratitude & greens recently posted…Thoughts On Self-Love + Winter Porridge Two WaysMy Profile

    1. I love em’ too! <3 Would a meat substitute work!? :D?

  10. Hahahaha! I love the 3 days! I like the singles day best ;) This is such a nice twist on the dish! Yum!
    Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine recently posted…Friday Finisher 2/13/15My Profile

    1. Aren’t they wonderful!? :D I like the singles day the best too! Chocolate is cool and all, but I can only have so much of that before sugar overloads occur. This, on the other hand… :P

  11. oh my yum! i MUST HAVE THESE IN MY LIFE AND IN MY FACE now!! But where would I get sweet bean sauce?
    Smitha @ RunningwithSD recently posted…Raspberry Chai Smoothie #Recipe and a #VegaOne #GIVEAWAYMy Profile

    1. An Asian supermarket should have it in the sauce section! :D!

      If not, Amazon has everything, but it’s a lot more expensive on there. Since you live in SD, there’s gotta be one around somewhere! (My closest one is an hour away, which is an improvement on 2-3 hours, but sigh! :x )

  12. I don’t think I’ve ever used bean sauce or bean paste in anything! But I like trying new things in sauces. Fascinating about this dish and it’s origin. Guess what?! I was a dietetic student in college! (since you mentioned you roomed with dietetic interns)
    Kaylin @ Enticing Healthy Eating recently posted…Favorite Wedding Planning WebsitesMy Profile

    1. That’s awesome! :D They were fun–I miss our kitchen experiments back in the day, because we were always trying to find a way to healthify the things we wanted to make! :] The downside to living alone now, but at least my friends live in the same complex!

  13. There’s no where in my town to find sweet bean sauce
    or ground bean paste.Oh well. But Black Day? That’s brilliant! Why don’t we do that here?
    Hollie recently posted…5 weird reasons why I love Valentines Day… and did even when I was singleMy Profile

    1. haha, I love it too! :P I feel ya on the lack of a place to get sweet bean sauce/ground bean paste! I had to buy some while I was home to bring back here! ._.

  14. I love recipes that come with the background story. Thanks for sharing that with us. This looks like a simple, healthy dish for a weeknight.
    Cassandra @PoweredByBling recently posted…Foodie Friday: Tuna Pasta Salad and a Valentine TreatMy Profile

    1. Thanks! I made it in bulk over the weekend and have been eating it throughout the week! :]

  15. I had jajangmyeon for the first time in Thailand, at a little Korean/Thai restaurant! It was delish, but quite salty. Your recipe looks fab :) thanks for sharing!
    Jess @hellotofit recently posted…Monday motivation – Oprah wisdomMy Profile

    1. The ones I’ve had at restaurants are definitely on the saltier side of the spectrum, so I made sure to refrain from adding any a ton, hehehe. Thank you! <3

  16. I love the little stories that you share with your foodie posts!
    Before my BFF and I both got married we used to always make delish food to celebrate singles awareness day.
    The recipe looks pretty yummy!
    Esther recently posted…Motivation Monday! Jessica’s story!My Profile

    1. Thanks! A lot of the stuff I make is inspired by past experiences/kitchen experiments with friends, so I like documenting them in some way! :P

      That’s awesome! Food makes my world go round, and I love cooking with other people, so that’s definitely what I’ve been doing for the past several “singles awareness days!” :]

    • Rosie on February 23, 2015 at 1:20 pm
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    This looks soo good. And easy enough I’m not scared off to make it!!! also ingredients easy to find!!! Yea!

    1. Glad to hear! You must live near an Asian market! :O Super jealous! <3

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