the sauces - proof of my sad inability to absorb chinese

apparently, the many years i spent in Chinese school on friday nights didn't amount to much.  neither did the years of Chinese i took in high school and college.  somehow, none of it stuck.  i can barely read a lick of it.  

it's not usually a huge problem at the grocery store since i shop by sight and brand recognition.  but it's sort of an issue when a certain brand sauce isn't carried at the store.  

this is what can ensue:

on phone with mom

me: what do you put into zha jian mien?

mom: you need tian mien jiang (awful pinyin alert)

me: is that the one in the small, blue tin can?

mom: yes, that's the one, just look for the can.

me: looking and looking.  mom, there's no blue can.  

mom: well, look for something that says tian mien jiang

me: looking and looking.  mom, nothing says that.

mom: okay, well it's a kind of bean sauce.

me: reading labels.  is it black bean sauce?

mom: no

me: hot bean sauce?

mom: no

me: bean chili sauce?

mom: no

me: getting desperate.  ground bean sauce?

mom: maybe, i don't know.  starting to think of all the money and hours wasted at chinese school.  why didn't she retain anything?

me: well, it has sugar and no chilis.  i'll just get this one.

mom: okay, let me know how it tastes.

hi mom, 

thank you for talking me through the "sauce" aisle on the phone while i was at the asian supermarket.  

here are the sauces i bought. since the one the blue can wasn't available.

and thanks for telling me which noodles to buy.  i hope i got the right ones.

love,

your eldest daughter

Zha Jian Mien! how's my pin yin?

last week, i had a craving for zha jian mien. so i drove to milpitas and got some takeout and it sort of satisfied the craving.

except the noodles were dripping in oil. and it felt like a rock in my stomach.

then, the next day, userealbutter posted her own zha jian mien. and i thought, why can't i just make my own?

well, the immediate answers were:

1. you don't have the ingredients

2. it's so cheap to buy in milpitas

3. you've never made it before

but really, they're just lame excuses.

1. i can BUY the ingredients, duh

2. even if it's cheap, it's still not good

3. it's never stopped me before!

note: i used ground turkey because the ground pork at the store looked too fatty. turkey's not traditional, i know, but my sister suggested it and my mom agreed, so i went with it.

cook the turkey or pork in the pan with some minced garlic. some recipes call for minced ginger too. i don't like ginger and so there's none in mine. plus, my mom didn't say to put in ginger. so there.

here's the very light colored pork (aka. turkey).

add all the sauces (soy sauce, hot chili garlic sauce, bean sauce, hoisin sauce) and the tofu. not plain tofu. marinated tofu. or do fu gan (there's that weird pinyin again).

zha jian mien. mien is chinese for noodles. so take this meat sauce and spoon it over some noodles. since this is a shanghainese dish, use shanghainese noodles. just a note: in my asian grocery store, shanghainese noodles came in three noodles size/shapes. i chose the medium one. not too skinny, not too thick.

add some julienned cucumber and some bean sprouts for some cool, crunchy goodness.

mmmm, craving satisfied.

oh boy, this is going to be hard . . . i did not measure

Zha Jian Mien

1 tsp canola oil

2 tbsp minced garlic

1 lb ground pork (traditional) or turkey (healthy version)

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp hot chilic garlic sauce

2 tbsp bean sauce

3 tbsp hoisin sauce

1/4 to 1/3 cup diced do fu gan (marinated tofu)

shanghainese noodles (enough for two)

handful julienned cucumber

handful bean sprouts

start pot of water for noodles.

heat oil in pan. when heated, toss in garlic and ground meat. brown the meat.

add noodles to water.

add sauces and do fu gan to meat. stir until combined.

drain noodles. top noodles with meat sauce, cucumber and sprouts. dig in!