How to Make Noodles with Beef and Bamboo

A wish for longevity is what this dish represents. Eating long, un-cut noodles during the Chinese New Year is a tradition stretching back through the annals of history. Eating these kinds of noodles represents the longevity of your life; therefore, refusing to cut the noodles means you'll have a longer life. By adding bamboo shoots, because the word for bamboo sounds similar to “wish” or “pray,” the stir fry will also enhance the lives of the people who eat this simple dish. Follow these steps to make noodles with beef and bamboo.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Chef's knife
• Medium bowl
• Large saute pan or wok
• Above ingredients
• 1 lb Fresh Chinese long noodles (usually these will be buckwheat or wheat noodles)
• 1 lb beef (try a top round or flank steak)
• 8 oz. canned sliced bamboo shoots
• 1 cup light soy sauce
• ¼ cup toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp. hot chili oil
• ½ tsp. fresh ginger
• 2 tsp. garlic
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup peanut or vegetable oil

Chinese New Year Noodles with Beef and Bamboo

1. Open and wash the bamboo shoots in fresh water. Set them aside.
2. Peel a knob of ginger, approximately ½-inch long, using a spoon to scrape the skin off. Grate the ginger using a fine cheese grater or a dedicated ginger grater until you have ½ teaspoon of ginger ground. Set aside.
3. Peel the garlic and mince two cloves until you have two teaspoons worth of minced garlic. Set aside.
4. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the soy sauce, oils, ginger, garlic and honey. Taste the mixture and adjust the sauce to your personal tastes. If the sauce is too salty, add more honey into the sauce. If it’s too sweet, add more sesame oil and a little soy sauce.
5. Using a whisk or a fork, thoroughly mix the sauce mixture until it’s homogenous.
6. If your beef cut has a lot of fat, remove as much as possible, leaving only 10 percent of it. Slice the beef against the grain of the muscle into ½-inch thick slices.
7. Cut those strips into pieces no longer than two-inches long. Place meat into a re-sealable plastic bag. Pour approximately a quarter to half of the sauce mixture into the bag. There should be just enough sauce to just barely cover the meat.
8. Seal the bag and massage the sauce into the beef. Store the remaining sauce and beef in the refrigerator.
9. Marinate the beef for three to four hours before cooking the dish. The longer the meat marinates, the better the final flavor will be.
10. Once the meat has finished marinating and you're ready to cook the dish, heat a large, 12-inch sauté pan or a wok over medium-high heat.
11. Add the peanut or vegetable oil to the hot pan. Make sure to swirl the oil to cover the bottom of the pan.
12. Add the marinated beef and bamboo shoots to the pan and stir fry for approximately five minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning.
13. Now add the fresh Chinese noodles and the rest of the sauce mixture to the pan and rapidly stir the noodle mixture. Continue to stir fry the noodles for approximately two minutes until the beef has completely cooked through.
14. Serve and enjoy.

Tips & Warnings

• You can buy fresh Chinese noodles for the New Year at most Asian markets. Look for especially long noodles in a refrigerated case. If you're unsure, ask someone to point them out for you.
• If you're not near an Asian market, you can use dried Japanese soba noodles as a substitute. Make sure to cook them according to the package directions. Add the cooked noodles when you would add the fresh noodles.
• Take care to not let the noodles sit too long in one spot otherwise they will stick and burn in the hot pan. Shaking the pan while stirring the noodles helps to prevent this.
• When choosing the beef, rump and flank cuts work best for marinating since these are areas with the most worked muscles on the cattle. If you use a cut that's too tender, the meat will almost fall apart when you cook it after you've marinated it.
• Marinating tenderizes and softens meat.
• You can use fresh bamboo shoots for this recipe. If you use fresh ones, make sure to boil them for 20 minutes. This rids the bamboo shoots of hydrocyanic acid, which is difficult to digest.
• Be mindful of spattering when you add the sauce to the hot pan.