Bean Threads Stir-Fried with Sichuan Spiced Beef

I am not one with my wok. That’s not to say that I don’t love my wok, I do, I just don’t have the proper groove going with it yet. I want to be able to kick up a mean stir-fry, the kind where my arms are spinning and food is flying and everything is getting tossed and flipped and steam is rising and my brow is sweating and in the end…it all comes out perfect. I know that part of the problem is that I don’t have an industrial grade stove that can get hot enough to actually sear the food when it makes contact with the hot metal. The other part of the problem just boils down to plain old skill and that, I’m working on.

I was craving stir-fried noodles, but didn’t want to order take-out because I really wanted to try and make something on my own. I had recently purchased The Noodle Shop Cookbook by Jackie Passmore, but had filed it away on the bookshelf before trying anything from it, a very unusual move on my part. Yesterday, I flipped through the book and found a recipe that appealed to me, so, with wok in hand I set out to get my groove going.

Right from the get-go I knew I wasn’t going to be able to follow the recipe exactly as it was written because I didn’t have any Chinese black vinegar on hand.

The Chinese are old masters at making vinegar. They’ve been doing it for more than five thousand years. The mildly flavored black or brown vinegar is used in stir-fries and braised dishes; a good quality white rice vinegar is superior to it’s distilled counterpart for sauce; and red vinegar is favored as a condiment, for dipping and splashing into soups and sauces at the table.

I didn’t have the time or the inclination to make a trip down to Chinatown so I decided to substitute Apple Cider Vinegar just this one time. I should have gone to Chinatown.

I brought 2 quarts of water to a boil, then threw in ½ pound of dried bean thread vermicelli, turned off the heat under the pot and let the vermicelli sit for one minute in the hot water. After a minute I drained the bean threads (so pretty) and covered them with cold water while I prepared the other ingredients. I cut 1 pound of beef into very thin slices and combined that with 1 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger, 1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce, 2 teaspoons Sichuan hot sauce, 11/2 teaspoon sugar, 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar and 2 teaspoons of sesame oil. I stirred everything together with the meat until it was well coated and then let it marinate for 30 minutes. I removed the noodles from the cold water and let them sit a colander to drain until the time when I would need them. Placing my wok over the burner which I had set to high heat, I heated some peanut oil and let the whole wok, oil included get really hot and smoky before throwing 1 chopped onion, ½ green bell pepper diced, and ½ red bell pepper diced stir frying them quickly for 1 minute before removing and setting aside. I then added a bit more oil, tossed in the beef and really tried to flip that beef around so that it was flying and cooking at the same time. I did this unsuccessfully for about 2 minutes, (I tossed more beef out the silly wok then around it) before returning the onions and peppers to the wok. I continued to stir and toss mixing the vegetables with the beef and then removing everything and setting it aside. While the noodles were draining, I prepared a sauce consisting of ¾ cup chicken stock, 11/2 teaspoons of chili oil, 2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine, 11/2 tablespoons of Tamari soy sauce, ¼ teaspoon of salt, 11/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar and 11/2 teaspoons of cornstarch. I cleaned out the wok, and then added a bit more oil, let it get hot, added the noodles and stir-fried them briefly before adding the sauce and letting the noodles soak up all the liquids. I added the beef and vegetables, stirring so that everything became incorporated and then tasted…

It was surprisingly bland. Thinking fast I added 2 more teaspoons of the Sichuan hot sauce, another splash of soy sauce, some hoisin sauce I found in the fridge and some fermented black bean paste with garlic that was also in the fridge. This helped it quite a bit, but I was thinking it was still just bit bland. I’ve been pretty unsure of my taste buds lately being that I’m pregnant and things are tasting all kinds of funky, so I stopped seasoning and just hoped it was just me and not the recipe. I’m sure part of the problem was from not having used the correct vinegar the recipe called for. I’m positive that would have made a world of difference and next time I’ll make sure I have some Chinese black vinegar on hand. Tom liked it, saying that the flavor was subtle but he would have liked it better if there had been some mushrooms in it. We both agreed though, that somehow, I had overcooked the beef. Heh, see what I mean, not yet one with the wok.

Written by Deb on October 8, 2003 01:15 AM