Hello hi everyone! This is a recipe for a dish that a few folks have requested now, which is a Chinese beef chow fun. Beef chow fun comes from Cantonese cuisine and is commonly associated with Hong Kong style street food. Here in the states, it’s also a staple of Chinese American cuisine throughout the country, and can have a wide array of veggies and meats included, depending on where you find it.
More specifically, today we’ll be adding to our Bay Area restaurant hack series, and taking a shot at the beef chow fun that you can find at a popular dumpling and noodle house here in Oakland Chinatown called Shan Dong. Their version of beef chow fun is fairly classic, using a combination baby bok choy, bean sprouts, flank steak and of course, wide chow fun rice noodles. I’ll also be taking a page from our Mongolian Beef recipe to nail down the most tricky part of this dish, which is the crispy seared beef. Hope you try it!
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp (about 1 inch) ginger
8 oz flank steak
16 oz chow fun
8 oz (about 24) baby bok choy
4-6 oz (about 1/2 cup) bean sprouts
1/2 cup corn starch dredge
1/4 cup stock
1 tsp baking soda slurry
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 star anise pod
kosher salt
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp black vinegar
1 tbsp doubanjiang
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
kosher salt
PREP
CRUSH AND MINCE the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
SLICE the flank steak into 1 inch pieces about 1/4 inch thick against the grain, set aside
SOAK chow fun in cold water until noodles separate, set aside
SLICE the baby bok choy into halves, set aside
COMBINE baking soda with water and mix into slurry, then soak the steak in the slurry for 30 minutes, and rinse off the baking soda when finished
COMBINE the flank steak with all marinade ingredients and marinate for 30 minutes
COAT the flank steak in corn starch, set aside
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 4 tbsp of peanut oil and long yao
ADD steak one piece at a time, flat side down and sear for 2 minutes per side until crisp
WIPE down the wok, reheat, add 4 tbsp of peanut oil and long yao
ADD garlic and ginger to the wok and bloom until fragrant (about 10-15 seconds)
ADD the baby bok choy and toss for 2-3 minutes until tender
ADD the steak back to the wok, followed by the chow fun, sauce, and 1/4 cup stock, and toss to combine
ADD the bean sprouts, and season with kosher salt to taste