Spicy Beef Hokkien Noodles

This is a very typical stir fried noodle dish that I have as a midweek meal. One that doesn’t require specific ingredients – just use whatever you have. Use fresh or dried noodles, whatever vegetables are lying around. And Charlie, my All Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce. He’s a midweek lifesaver. And Super Food Ideas magazine agrees!!

Charlie is the name I have given to my All Purpose Chinese Stir Fry Sauce. That’s how fond I am of him – I’ve named him. Charlie – as in Charlie Brown. Everybody say boo, how unoriginal!! 😉

You might laugh that I’ve named him but you won’t laugh if you try him. He’s becoming FAMOUS!!! He’s now not only one of the all time most popular recipes here on RecipeTin Eats, he’s got an entire six page spread in Super Food Ideas Magazine!

I know Charlie isn’t beautiful. He’s a rather unassuming brown sauce, he looks rather unappetising actually, especially when he’s been in the fridge for a few weeks and he’s separated into layers.

Unattractive he may be. But he’s packed with super powers because of his versatility, convenience and how darn delicious he is, even if you do nothing but add water to him in a stir fry.

Who would have ever thought that a plain brown sauce would be sitting in the fridge of hundreds and thousands, if not millions, of households around the world?

And now, he’s in SUPER FOOD IDEAS magazine!!! Five brand new recipes created using Charlie that I made especially and exclusively for the March issue of Super Food Ideas which just hit the stands!

I think you’ll be pretty amazed at the range of dishes that can be made using Charlie. Stir fries and noodles are the obvious ones. But he can also be used as:

• A sauce – like in the Pan Fried Chinese Fish recipe (middle right above) and the saucy prawn stir fry on crispy noodles (3rd from the right);
• For a speedy fried rice – I made a Speedy Pork Fried rice for the magazine (far right); and
• Soup! Pictured above is a Chinese Chicken & Corn Soup I made using Charlie (2nd from the right).

I was really, really torn about which recipe to share. I decided to go with the Spicy Hokkien Noodles because it’s a staple in my midweek meal repertoire. I very rarely follow this recipe exactly, I substitute the beef for whatever proteins I have – or even go meat free – and use whatever vegetables I have. Literally – anything. I even used fennel once. It was darn tasty actually!

This recipe makes enough for 4 people so I use the method of cooking the ingredient in batches, then bringing it all together at the end. The reason I do this is because otherwise the wok gets too full and the vegetables and beef will stew rather than be crisp and just cooked which is how they should be for stir fries.

As with all stir fries, once you start cooking it all comes together very quickly so have everything chopped and ready to go. Are you ready for a quick dinner? Make up some Charlie to have on standby, then you’re just 20 minutes away from this! – Nagi x

4.84 from 6 votes

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Spicy Beef Hokkien Noodles

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Total Time

20 mins

 

This recipe is made using my Homemade Chinese Stir Fry Sauce but I've also provided directions in Note 1 for how to make just enough sauce for this recipe. Use whatever veggies, meat and noodles you want!

Course: Stir Fry

Cuisine: Asian, Chinese

Servings: 4 -5

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats

Ingredients

Beef

• 13 oz / 400g beef rump steak , trimmed, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp Homemade Chinese Stir-fry Sauce (Note 1)
• 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil

Stir Fry

• 1 1/2 tbsp peanut oil
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• 1 small onion (brown, white or yellow)
• 1 red capsicum/bell pepper , sliced
• 1/3 cup Homemade Chinese Stir-fry Sauce (Note 1)
• 3/4 cup water
• 2 tbsp chilli paste , hot sauce, sriracha (to taste) OR finely chopped chilli
• 3 scallions/shallots , cut into 3cm lengths
• 7 oz / 200g snow peas , trimmed
• 15 oz / 450g fresh hokkien noodles

To Garnish (optional)

• Sliced red chilli , sliced scallions/shallots and toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

1. Mix beef and 2 tbsp Stir-fry Sauce in a glass or ceramic bowl. Set aside for 20 minutes to marinate.
2. Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil in a large wok over high heat. Cook beef for 1 1/2 minutes or until just cooked through. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Heat 1 1/2 tbsp oil. Add garlic and onion, cook for 30 seconds. Add capsicum and cook for 1 minute. Transfer to the bowl with the beef.
4. Add 1/3 cup Homemade Chinese Stir-fry Sauce, water and chili paste. Cook for 30 seconds or until sauce starts to thicken. Add green onion and snow peas, cook for 30 seconds.
5. Return beef and capsicum mixture to the wok, add noodles and stir fry for 1 minute 30 seconds, tossing to coat everything in the sauce.
6. Serve immediately, garnished with chili, sliced scallions/shallots and sesame seeds if desired.

Recipe Notes

1. This recipe is made using Charlie, my Homemade Chinese Stir Fry Sauce. You can make enough sauce just for this recipe using the following recipe, but it is much easier just to make up one batch of Charlie!

4 tsp cornstarch / corn flour
3 tbsp soy sauce (all purpose, I use Kikkoman)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp oyster sauce
3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine or dry sherry
1 1/2 tsp white sugar
½ tsp sesame oil (optional)
Dash of black pepper