Ground Beef with Beijing Sauce Over Noodles

If you don’t have bean sauce, you can substitute with hoisin sauce or oyster sauce and omit the sugar. To save time, boil your noodles according to package instructions while you’re cooking. I’ve added dried peppers, but of course you can leave out if you’d like. If you enjoy spice, try the “hot bean sauce” instead of the regular bean sauce, add more dried chilies and leave the seeds in or use chopped fresh chilies instead. (For GF – Ground bean sauce I use (see above) contains wheat flour. Here is a list of GF products from Lee Kum Kee – use the oyster sauce instead of bean sauce. Or, you can increase the soy sauce amount and just leave out the bean sauce. Serve over your grain of choice)

serves 4

For the sauce
1/4 cup stock (chicken/beef/veg)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon ground bean sauce
1/2 tablespoon cooking wine
1/2 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons cooking oil
1 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/4 cup minced onions
4 dried chili peppers, cut in half, seeds shaken out/discarded
1 pound lean ground beef or chicken
1/2 cup frozen vegetables (I used carrots and peas), no need to defrost
1/2 cup chopped baby corn (1/2 can)
1 teaspoon cornstarch + 1 tablespoon cool water, mixed in small bowl
cooked rice or noodles

Mix the sauce ingredients together, set aside. In a wok or large saute pan over high heat, add the cooking oil. When the oil is just getting hot, add the garlic, onions and the chili peppers, fry until fragrant about 30 seconds. Add the ground beef and stir fry for 1 minute until browned.

Add the frozen vegetables and baby corn and stir well. Pour in the sauce and turn the heat to medium. Bring sauce to a boil.

Pour in the corntarch/water mixture and continue to simmer for another 30 seconds, until sauce has thickened. Taste and adjust for seasoning – you may add a little more soy sauce if needed. Serve over noodles or rice.