I created 3jamigos to chronicle our family’s food adventures, recipes, and stories, for my kids. In college, I often called home to ask my dad how to make homestyle Cantonese dishes I grew up eating. Dishes like fuzzy melon soup, congee, and steamed pork patty, were the connection to my family, a sure-fire remedy to my homesickness. Things have come full circle, I’m now on the receiving end of the “how do you make…?”. When I come across a simple and delicious dish, and I think the kids would like it, I make a mental note to put it on 3jamigos.
Soul food for my family is Cantonese food (Roots, Baby), but over the years has expanded to other Asian cuisines. Nowadays, you are just as likely to find Bulgogi, Japchae, and Teriyakion our dinner table. My latest find is the cookbook, A Common Table by Cynthia McTernan, it speaks to the melting pot we are. Absolutely one of my favorites. It’s beautifully written, gorgeously photographed, and filled with delicious user-friendly recipes. I have also come to depend on blogs and websites for Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese recipes that are now part of the family meal rotation.
This quick and easy, Stir-Fried Pork Belly with Bean Sprouts has become a family favorite. Adapted from the blog, Korean Bapsang, it is a quick meal on a busy weeknight. A couple of minutes of prepping and cooking is all it takes. Before you know it you’ll be sitting down to a bowl of steaming hot rice topped with a generous scoop of yummy pork and sprouts…yep, bowl food is soul food.
Check It Out Now-Sprout Soul Sistah
Slivers of pork belly stir-fried with bean sprouts, onions, and scallions seasoned with soy sauce and oyster sauce, it’s simple and delicious. Use thinly sliced pork butt or shoulder instead of pork belly if you like. Thinly sliced beef is also an option. IN A PINCH, use regular thick-sliced bacon. This would add that characteristic smoky flavor of bacon, which would be okay in my book 😉.
Sprouts
The only thing you need to know about the bean sprouts for this recipe…don’t overcook them! Keep them crunchy! That’s it, folks. Make sure you pick sprouts that are white and shiny, with a nice yellow tip. I also threw in a thinly sliced, de-seeded Serrano or Thai pepper, for a little spice.
Stir-fried pork belly and bean sprouts-Samgyupsal sukju bokkeum
A quick and easy stir fry of pork belly and bean sprouts.
Course Meat, One dish meals, Vegetable
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Pork Belly
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Ingredients
8ouncesthinly sliced/shaved pork bellyor other thinly sliced pork or beef
1tbspsesame oil
10ouncesbean sprouts
1/4medium onionthinly sliced
2teaspoonsminced garlic or 2 -3 plump garlic cloves
2-3 scallions or 2 ounces garlic chivescut into 1 inch segments, if they are large, cut in half lengthwise first
2tablespoonssoy sauce or oyster sauceUse 1 T of each
1teaspoonsugar
salt and pepper to taste
1fresh red chili pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly
Instructions
If you are using pork belly, cut each slice into 1 inch segments, for other meats thinly sliced into bite sized pieces
Give the bean sprouts a quick rinse, and drain. Thinly slice the onion, and cut the scallions (or garlic chives) into 2-inch pieces.
Heat a large pan over high heat. Add the sesame oil to the pan and then the pork, stir-fry quickly until no longer pink.
Add the onion and stir fry briefly 30 seconds. Add bean sprouts chili pepper (if using) and scallions, continue to stir fry until the bean sprouts have wilted slightly but are still crunchy.
Add the soy sauce and/or oyster sauce, garlic, sugar and pepper to taste. Stir-fry quickly. Season with salt to taste if necessary. Serve with a big bowl of rice (although this would go well with noods too). Enjoy!
Notes
You can find a variety of extra thin cut meats in your local Korean/Asian markets. If you want to thinly slice the meat yourself, freeze the meat until it's firm, but still sliceable. With a sharp knife, slice the meat as thin as you can.
One of my favorite dishes, when we are out for dim sum, is Hong Kong Style Chow Mein or Soy Sauce Fried Noodles (豉油王炒麵). This is Cantonese soul food. Thin egg noodles fried with onions, scallions, and bean sprouts. It is deceptively simple. How does a dish with so few ingredients, taste so good? It’s the balance, skinny noodles dry-fried to retain their chew and texture; stir-fried onions for sweetness and texture, scallions for flavor and color, and last but not least, bean sprouts for textural crunch. There aren’t any big pieces of meat or greens that disrupt the balance of the dish. Everything is julienned or in slivers to compliment the noodles.
Like Yin and Yang, balanced and harmonious. It flies under the radar due to its simplicity and is the perfect side dish. These noodles are your bestie, your essential wingman, Goose to Maverick.
The seasonings are few, soy sauce, oyster sauce, a bit of sugar for balance, and that’s pretty much it. This means, start with great sauces, ones you like. My favorites? LKK oyster sauce, it is my go-to brand (Woman and Little Boy in a Boat). It’s the only oyster sauce I have in my pantry.
Soy Sauces are a different matter, there are so many. Different in style, use, and taste. Literally, I have over 12 different soy sauces, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, and even Hawaiian.
SOY, Let’s Break It Down
In Cantonese cuisine, the dark soy sauce is actually not as salty as light soy sauce. Sugar or molasses is added to the base sauce for flavor, color and to balance the saltiness. It is used during marinating or cooking. Light Soy Sauce, is the first press of soybeans and is salty. It is the go-to sauce, to marinade, cook, and to use on the table, like salt. The soy sauce found on the table in Chinese restaurants is light soy sauce or often Kikkoman, which falls between light and dark soy sauce. A good all-purpose soy sauce. Koon Chun, a Hong Kong legacy company makes wonderful Light and Dark Soy Sauces (My Dad’s favorite)
For these noodles, it’s imperative you use soy sauces you like since it is a predominant flavor ingredient. This dish requires 2 different soy sauces, light soy (shēng chōu, 生抽) and dark soy (Lǎo chōu, 老抽). The literal translation is “new sauce” for light soy and “old sauce” for dark soy. The dark and light soy is most prevalent in Canton, southeast China (ME!).
My favorites for this dish are Pearl River Bridge Light Soy Sauce and LKK Dark Soy Sauce. A great alternative is Korean Soy Sauce. I would use Sempio 701 which has a briny, rich, savory taste with a hint of sweetness. The Soup Soy seen in the picture (end left) is light soy and used mainly when making soup. It provides salt and umami without coloring your stocks. I use Aloha Soy Sauce for my marinades for bbq and any Hawaiian recipe (I have lots, love Hawaiian food-onolicious)
The NOODS
The other half of the equation is the noodles in this dish, so pick the right one!
Choose noodles that are THIN, ie. Cantonese style or Hong Kong-style noodles. Preferably egg noodles. Fresh or dry (I like fresh), I repeat THIN noodles. Look for Fresh Steamed, or fresh Hong Kong or Cantonese-style noodles.
Don’t follow the cooking directions! You want to undercook these noodles so they don’t break or get mushy when frying.
To ensure you don’t overcook the noodles. Separate the noodles and place them in a colander over the sink. Pour boiling water over the noodles and let them drain and dry. Voila noodles ready for pan-frying. Alternatively, put the noodles in boiling water for no more than 30 seconds after it comes to a boil. Remove and drain well.
Better to undercook your noodles!!! Made with Lauhas a great video for making Hong Kong Style Noodles. This recipe is essentially his with a couple of tweaks and notes. Great site for down home Cantonese food from a pro!
Once the wok is hot, add 1 tablespoon oil to pan, add noodles. On high heat, keep moving the noodles around to dry and crisp the noodles. Stir fry for 2 0r 3 minutes. Then flip the noodles over (big flip), drizzle another tablespoon of oil down the side of the wok or pan. Continue to fry and move the noodles around. The goal is a mix of both crisp and soft noodles. Add sprouts and onions to the wok and fry until heated through and a bit wilted. You want the sprouts to retain their crunch. Alternatively, you could quick-fry the green onions and sprouts separately and add them to the noodles with the yellow onions and scallion roots. If you really like the vegetables to stay crisp, fry the noodles and add sauce mixture before adding the vegetables.
These are my favorite, a classic, Soy Sauce Fried Noodles!
Classic noodle dish found in Dim Sum restaurants and Chinese delis. Simplicity perfected
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Hong Kong style Noodles, Stir-fried Noodles
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 10 minutesminutes
Ingredients
16ozHong Kong style pan fried noodles unsteamed or steamedI’m lazy I get steamed
1/2yellow onioncut into thin slices, lengthwise
5stalks green onion (or Chinese Chives)Cut into 1.5 inch pieces and then julienned.
6-8ozbean sproutsWashed and drained
3tbsppeanut oilor vegetable oil of choice
Sauce
1.5tbspdark soy sauce
1.5tbsplight soy sauce
1.5tbspoyster sauce
0.5tbspshaoxing wine
2tspsugar
1tbspwater
1tspsesame oilto taste
Instructions
Prep Noodles
Steam noodles, drain, cool. Please DON’T over cook your noodles!!! This is the takeaway.
For fresh, steamed noodles, bring pot of water to a boil. Drop in noodles (separated), bring the water back to a boil and take them out-pronto! Leave them in colander to drain and dry out a little.
If you're using dried noodles, cook according to the package's instructions, erring on the more al-dente side, and rinse with cold water afterwards to stop the cooking. Drain well.
Veggies
Cut green onions into about 1.5 inch pieces. Separate the light and the green sections. The light part will be cooked first with the yellow onion.
Cut yellow onion in half, and julienne half (thinly slice lengthwise)
Rinse and drain bean sprouts
Sauce
Combine soy sauces, oyster sauce, sugar, and water in a bowl, stir until the sugar dissolves. Set aside.
Frying Time
On high, heat wok, to around 350-400°F, basically smokin hot.
When the wok is hot, add oil (1 tbsp) and heat to 350-400°F. The oil should be "shimmering" - rippling, but not smoking. If it's smoking, the wok is too hot. Little wisps of smoke is okay.
Saute’ green onion whites and onions for about 1 minute and reserve.
Heat the wok again and add 1 T oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the noodles.
Move the noodles around the pan gently. DO NOT flip them yet, move the noodles around so parts get crispy. Cook for about 3 minutes moving the noodles carefully.
Turn the top noodles over so the noodles are on the bottom, add 1 T oil along the perimeter of the pan to help develop a nice crisp. Let the noodles cook on this side for another 3 minutes, occasionally prodding and moving the noodles.
The noodles will not stick to the pan if they are not overcooked. Lifting the noodles as you fry helps release moisture.
Add bean sprouts and stir fry for 30-45 seconds. Use tongs or cooking chopsticks to help you move the noodles around. Place the noodles over the sprouts to help cook them. Better to undercook sprouts, you want to retain their crunch!
Add sautéed onion-green onion mixture and mix to incorporate and heat onions. No more than a minute.
Add sauce by pouring it in a steady stream all over the noodles and vegetables. Keep moving and lifting the noodles to coat with sauce and release any extra moisture.
Add sesame oil and continue to mix and separate the noodles for another 1-2 minutes. If the noodles seem to be getting a bit soft, take them off the heat. The oil does not need to cook.
Taste the noodles, season with salt and dark soy if the noodles are not dark enough. Add white pepper if you like.
Garnish julienned green onion shreds. Serve immediately.
