Beef chow mein – nice mince/floor beef recipe!

By:Nagi

Printed:3 Jul ’23Up to date:3 Jul ’23

Right here’s an important beef mince recipe for you that’s fast to make, economical and stuffed with hidden greens so it’s an entire meal – Beef Chow Mein! It’s the beef model of all people’s favorite Hen Chow Mein, made with the comfort of floor beef.

Beef chow mein

Right here’s one thing new to attempt with that packet of beef mince you throw into your buying cart each week! The meat is stir fried with chow mein sauce till it’s superbly caramelised then tossed in a tangle of noodles and greens.

A neat trick in at present’s recipe is to scramble up an egg with the meat. It makes the meat bits keep on with the noodles higher, with the added bonus of upping the protein.

One other bonus: chow mein truly has an unlimited quantity of noodle-shaped greens hidden within the noodles. A carrot, 2 heaped cups of cabbage and a heaped cup of bean sprouts. That’s a very good veg serving for a meal!

What you want

Right here’s what it’s good to make this:

Noodles & add-ins

Noodles – Chow mein noodles are type of dry and crinkly, relatively than oily and straight like hokkien noodles, lo mein noodles. However this dish can actually be made with any noodles – and even spaghetti (sure actually, who’s going to know as soon as tossed in chow mein sauce??). Use the identical weight.
Garlic – Not often do Asian stir fries occur with out garlic, and this one is not any exception!
Beef mince – That’s floor beef to Individuals. Any fats % is ok right here although lean beef received’t caramelise fairly as nicely.

Different proteins – Another mince will work simply high-quality right here. Hen, pork, turkey, even lamb! Although keep in mind the sauce is sort of intense flavoured to swimsuit the beefy flavour of beef, so that you received’t style the flavour of white meats by way of the sauce.
Egg – We use this to scramble into the meat. Neat trick to make the meat keep on with the noodles higher with the added bonus of a free protein enhance!
Inexperienced cabbage – Or Chinese language cabbage. Finely sliced so it disappears into the tangle of noodles.
Bean sprouts – Wonderful grab-and-throw-in vegetable possibility! STORAGE TIP: Preserve bean sprouts in water in an hermetic container. Change the water each couple of days. This can enhance the shelf lifetime of beansprouts 3x.
Carrot – Lower into skinny batons. Extra noodle formed greens so all of it jumbles up collectively!
Inexperienced onion – We use 3 complete stems right here. They’re the onion on this dish, in addition to some contemporary inexperienced color.

Chow Mein Sauce

The mix of sauces utilized in Chow Mein is frequent in Chinese language dishes.

Soy sauces – We’re utilizing each mild and darkish soy sauce on this recipe. What’s the distinction?Darkish soy stains the noodles a stunning heat mahogany color in addition to including soy flavour. Gentle soy sauce offers the salt with out overwhelming with soy flavour, and doesn’t stain the rice.

Substitutions -You need to use solely mild soy sauce or simply an all-purpose soy sauce (ie bottle simply labelled “soy sauce” with out “mild” or “darkish” in entrance of it) as a substitute of darkish soy sauce. However you can’t use solely darkish soy sauce because the flavour is just too sturdy! Extra on various kinds of soy sauces right here.
Oyster sauce – A load of flavour, multi function sauce! It’s candy and savoury and provides a neat flavour shortcut in dishes. Makes an everyday look in Asian dishes, from Pad See Ew to Asian Glazed Salmon to Honey Pepper Beef to Supreme Soy Noodles. And Steamed Asian Greens with Oyster Sauce!

Vegetarian oyster sauce is on the market lately, at Asian shops and a few massive grocery shops (Australia – there’s Ayam vegetarian oyster sauce at Woolies). In any other case, hoisin is an efficient different. Barely completely different flavour profile (trace of Chinese language 5 spice) however comparable savoury / sweetness.
Chinese language cooking wine (Shaoxing wine) is a necessary ingredient for making actually “restaurant tasting” Chinese language dishes. With out it, the dish will likely be missing one thing. Substitute with Mirin, cooking sake or dry sherry.

Non alcoholic sub – sub each the cooking wine and water with low sodium hen broth/inventory.
Cornflour / cornstarch – For thickening the sauce so it clings to the noodles. It additionally makes the sauce pretty and shiny.
White pepper and sugar – For seasoning.

How one can make Beef Chow Mein

You’ll want to cook dinner the meat nicely when you add the sauce to get it actually properly caramelised, for a free flavour enhance!

1. Sauce & thickener

Sauce – Combine the soy sauces, oyster sauce, Chinese language cooking wine, sugar and pepper in a small bowl. We’re going to make use of some to flavour the meat, then we’ll combine the remaining with the sauce thickener (subsequent step) to make the noodle sauce.
Sauce thickener (cornflour slurry) – Combine the cornflour / cornstarch and water in a separate small bowl. That is what thickens the sauce so it coats the noodles, in addition to making it shiny and shiny.

2. Making the stir fried noodles

Put together the noodles per the packet instructions then drain. I normally get the water boiling whereas I’m prepping the greens then cook dinner the noodles after I begin cooking. The chow mein noodles I get simply name for soaking in sizzling water for 3 minutes. Some manufacturers have to be boiled.
Caramelise beef – Utilizing a big non-stick pan, cook dinner the garlic first to flavour the oil. Then cook dinner the meat, breaking it up as you go, till you’ll be able to now not see uncooked beef.

Then add the white a part of the inexperienced onions and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the Sauce. We add the white a part of the inexperienced onions first because it takes longer than the inexperienced half. Prepare dinner for an additional 2 minutes to get the meat properly caramelised.

End sauce – In the meantime, combine the cornflour slurry into the remaining sauce.
Scramble egg – Add the egg into the pan then combine it by way of the meat, it can type of scramble into the combination. That is what makes beef keep on with the noodles higher!
Preserve cooking! – When the egg is usually cooked, add the carrot and cabbage. Prepare dinner for 1 minute till cabbage begins to wilt.
Sauce & noodles – Give the sauce a fast combine. Add the bean sprouts, noodles and sauce into the pan. Toss nicely for 1 minute or till sauce is dispersed by way of the noodles. Add inexperienced a part of inexperienced onions. Toss for an additional 1 minute, then serve!

So there you go! Stir fried noodles for dinner, comparatively low effort and fast to make. Nice strategy to get a noodle repair, very economical, and extremely versatile – change out the greens and proteins with what you’ve obtained or what you’re keen on.

Take pleasure in! – Nagi x

Watch tips on how to make it

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Beef chow mein – nice mince/floor beef recipe!

Beef chow mein