Beijing ‘Fried Sauce’ Noodles
炸酱面
English: Beijing ‘Fried Sauce’ Noodles
Chinese: 炸酱面
Pinyin: zha jiang mian
Literal: Fried Sauce Noodles
It constantly surprises me how neglected the soybean is in Western cooking. For over 10 years, I worked in restaurants—from fine dining to casual—and never once saw soybeans in any form on the menus. In the UK, tofu is often unfairly associated with a sad, austere vegan lifestyle. There is a myth that beans are bland and tofu is like flavourless cheese, but I’d counter that and argue that the soybean may well be the most magical and versatile vegetable on the planet.
China has spend hundreds of years mastering the art of transforming this humble bean into hundreds of items: soy milk, cooking oil, fermented soybean pastes, soy sauce, and more types of tofu than I can name, from silken to firm to puffy, from thin to sweet to smoked. No other vegetable can do as much.
The sauce for zha jiang mian is the perfect example of how much flavour the soybean can pack. Known as ‘fried sauce’ in English, this classic Beijing noodle dish is made by blending three types of fermented soybean sauces. First, there’s gan huang jiang, a dried soybean paste made by fermenting the beans with salt and water before sun-drying them until the moisture is reduced. This creates a dark, intensely savoury paste with a robust, chewy aroma. Then comes tian mian jiang, a glossy, treacly sauce made by fermenting wheat flour with soybeans. Its slightly sweet flavor is balanced with a deep umami punch. Lastly, huang dou jiang is crafted from cooked yellow soybeans and a mould starter, resulting in a tangy and mildly sweet paste. Together, these sauces form the backbone of the “fried sauce,” creating a rich, thick, and irresistibly moreish topping that captures the essence of real Beijing cuisine.
Zha jiang mian is one of the five great noodle dishes of Northern China standing proudly alongside Shaanxi’s biang biang mian, Lanzhou’s damian, Knife-Cut Noodles (dao xiao mian) of Shanxi, and Dongbei’s Cold Noodles (liang mian). Famous throughout China, zha jiang mian is one of Beijing’s most traditional and beloved dishes. It is often served family-style at home, where each guest receives a bowl of plain noodles while the sauce and accompanying vegetables are placed in the centre of the table. This allows everyone to make the perfect bowl for them.
Serves 4
Ingredients
For the vegetables - Choose 2-3 of the below
2 cucumbers - julienned
4-6 red radishes - julienned
2 carrots - julienned
3-4 handfuls of beansprouts
4 cloves garlic - minced (optional)
For the sauce
4 tablespoons ‘dry yellow sauce’ (gan huang jiang)
4 tablespoons soybean paste (huang dou jiang)
4 tablespoons sweet bean sauce (tian mian jiang)
3 star anise
2 sticks of cinnamon
3 bay leaves
1 leek - roughly chopped
1 teaspoon Sichuan peppercorns
300g ground/minced pork
2 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1-inch piece of ginger - finely chopped
½ red onion - diced
4 tablespoons Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
4 spring onions - finely sliced
4 tablespoons of water
For the noodles
500g fresh noodles / 250g dried
Method
Before you start, cut all your vegetables into 2.5 inch pieces and julienne them. Lay them on serving plates and put in the middle of the dining table. If using the minced garlic, prep that now too and add into a small bowl onto the table.
Next, make the sauce. In a medium-sized bowl, add the dry yellow sauce and add 4 tablespoons of water to loosen the paste. Then add the soybean paste and mix again until both are merged. Finally, add the sweet bean sauce and mix until everything is smooth and runny like a thin pancake batter.
Heat a wok over a low heat with 2 tablespoons of oil. When hot, add the aromatic: star anise, cinnamon, bay leaves, leek and Sichuan peppercorns. Fry for a 2-3 minutes or until the leeks have wilted and it smells fragrant. Then remove the ingredients with a slotted spoon, leaving the oil in the pan, but discarding the aromatics. They should have infused the oil with a great flavour now.
Add the ground pork into the pan and fry until browned. Add the garlic, ginger and the red onion and fry until the onion is soft.
After about 4-5 minutes, add the Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, let them bubble for a bit, and then add in half of the sauce we mixed together earlier. Cook for 3 minutes as you stir, then add the other half and stir. Add in the sugar, spring onions and stir.
Cover and simmer on a low heat for about 10 minutes, until the sauce becomes thick and glossy. At the same time, bring a saucepan of water to the boil.
Uncover the sauce, increase the heat slightly, and then stir. Simmer for another 10 minutes or until the sauce is glossy. You want it to be thick but pourable, a consistency that will coat the noodles: not so thin it will pool at the bottom of a bowl, but not so thick it won’t mix.
Pour into a bowl and put on the table with the vegetables. It’s fine if it cools a bit, the sauce is usually served warm rather than hot.
Your saucepan of water should be boiling now. Add the noodles and boil until cooked. I’ve found when using fresh, the starch forms a white foam and bubbles over the top. To prevent this, add a bit of cold water each time you notice it rising, or just keep an eye on the pan and lift off the hob when it gets too high, then put it back on.
Once the noodles are cooked, drain and add to four bowls. It’s now up to your guests to spoon over the sauce, add handfuls of vegetables and mix until they’re happy.
