Hello! I’m sharing my Zha Jiang Mian recipe with you guys today. This dish is probably one of my favorites, so I’m so excited to be sharing this with you.
This dish is a classic Chinese dish that you can find everywhere in China. It’s so simple and delicious, so why wouldn’t it be everywhere? This recipe comes from my parent’s, which as you may know now, make delicious Chinese food all the time. Zha Jiang Mian translates to fried paste/sauce noodle, and the way you make this dish reflects just that. I have grown up eating this many times and it’s still a favorite to eat with my family.
There are different variations to this recipe that you can adjust to your liking. Typically you would include scrambled egg and ground pork in the sauce (which are included in this recipe), but if you aren’t a fan of either, you can leave it out or substitute it for something else. You can make this dish with just the black bean sauce and it will be delicious. It is also nice to have a fresh element to the noodles; my recipe includes raw cucumbers, which in my opinion is the best fresh ingredient to go with the sauce. You could add other raw vegetables such as bean sprouts and carrots, but to me, cucumbers are a go to. Just to warn you, this recipe isn’t the healthiest one on my blog, but it’s sooo so good and still somewhat healthy.
Here’s a look at the ingredients:
- Noodles!
- Fresh noodles are always the best way to go, but if you are in a time crunch, you can use ramen or spaghetti. You could even go for some veggie based noodles like zoodles or Banza.
- Black Bean Sauce
- This sauce is a key ingredient. You can pick this sauce up from an Asian grocery store or your regular grocery store if they carry it. Here is a picture of the one we like, the box doesn’t have an English name.
- Here are some Links: Chili Bean sauce, Black Bean Garlic Sauce
- Ground Pork
- This is the bulk of the protein in the sauce. Ground pork is used the most traditionally, but you can also go for any other ground meat. Marinate this ahead of time with cornstarch and soy sauce.
- Scrambled Egg
- Scrambled eggs are also traditionally added into the sauce, but feel free to leave it out if eggs aren’t your cup of tea.
- Cucumbers
- This is the fresh element. Like I mentioned before, the combo of the black bean sauce and cucumber is a match made in heaven, but you can mix and match your fresh ingredients for bean sprouts, carrots, romaine etc.
- The pantry and fridge ingredients
- You’ll also need a bunch of other ingredients that are hopefully already in your fridge/pantry. Here’s the list: soy sauce, corn starch, olive oil, sugar (just a little bit, but can be subbed with another sweetener), ground Szechaun or black pepper, ginger, and garlic. Each of these ingredients serve a big purpose for this dish.
Zha Jiang Mian
Ingredients
Pork Marinade
- 2 oz pork cutlet cut into strips
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ½ tbs corn starch
Sauce
- 1 tbs soy sauce
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ tsp Sichuan pepper ground
- 1 stalk green onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp ginger minced
- ½ cup black bean paste
- ½ cup water
- 8 oz noodles of choice
- 1 cucumber sliced thin
Instructions
- First cut your pork into some thin strips and marinate with soy sauce, cornstarch, and white pepper.
- Cook up the pork over high heat with some olive oil. Remove from pan.
- Now scramble up your eggs.
- Next add 2 tbs of olive oil to the pan and sauté up your garlic, ginger and green onions until it is fragrant.
- Next add your black bean paste and water to the pan and cook that up.
- Add your pork and scrambled eggs, and work that into the sauce.
- Bring a big pot of water to a boil and cook your noodles.
- If you are making home made or fresh noodles, cook for 3-4 minutes. If you are using dry noodles cook according to the package.
- While the noodles are cooking, slice up your cucumber in to long thin slices.
- Finally serve your noodles with a scoop of the black bean sauce and some fresh cucumbers!
