Shanghai Style Noodles With Spicy Meat Sauce

m0m's Note:

An easy dish with a wonderful complex flavor! This recipe was in the Houston Chronicle about 15 years ago. The ingredient list is long, but everything on the list is easily available.

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh gingerroot
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 1 lb ground beef or 1 lb ground pork
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/3 cup hoisin sauce
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 (16 ounce) package vermicelli, cooked
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1/2 cup sliced green onion

Directions:

1. Heat oil in a large skillet or wok.
2. Add garlic, ginger root, and pepper flakes and saute about 5 seconds.
3. Add onions and stir fry until translucent, about 5 minutes.
4. Stir in ground meat, breaking it up with a spoon or spatula.
5. Cook until meat has lost pink color.
6. Combine 1/2 cup chicken broth, hoisin sauce, soy sauce and sherry.
7. Stir into meat mixture.
8. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.
9. Meanwhile, dissolve the cornstarch in the remaining 1/2 cup of chicken broth.
10. Slowly stir into meat mixture and cook and stir until sauce thickens.
11. In a big bowl, toss warm cooked vermicelli with sesame oil.
12. Pour sauce over top and toss gently to combine.
13. Sprinkle with sliced green onions.

Reviews

[mars.ombriel]

I feel a bit nervous about giving a bad review for a recipe that is so well-liked, especially as my first review, and especially when it's quite possible that the problem was me. I've been cooking for less than a year and I have had some pretty bad screw-ups before. However, this dish was not very good at all compared to the other recipes I've tried from recipezaar. I'll explain what I did, and you can make your own opinion whether it's me or the recipe. I followed the recipe as closely as I could. I used spaghetti instead of vermicelli, and I forgot to add the sesame oil. Those were the only two changes. It smelled really good while cooking, but the end result was very oily and just tasted like beef fat and hoisin. None of the other ingredients were noticeable. I made myself eat a bowl of it, but when I went to heat up the leftovers later, I just couldn't bear to eat the rest. I had wondered whether I should drain the oil and beef fat from the pan before adding the sauce ingredients, but I decided not to because I thought it might take away the flavor of the spices that had been cooked in it. I used 80% lean ground beef, because 90% and 95% were much more expensive. Maybe the recipe was created with the less fatty kind, and that's why mine was so oily. Although 3 tablespoons of oil does seem a little excessive for cooking that amount of onions and spices, compared to other recipes I've seen. As for the flavor otherwise, I think the problem isn't really "too much hoisin," but actually "not enough of everything else." It was just bland. I don't think adding the sesame oil would have helped; in my experience, sesame oil has a strong smell but not much of a flavor, and in any case, it would have made the food that much oilier. It might have worked better with some modifications, such as using less oil, using leaner beef, and adding more garlic, ginger, pepper flakes, and soy sauce. Adding vegetables, like many of the previous reviewers did, might also improve it. However, I probably will not try this recipe again. I would rather look for a different recipe for ground beef and noodles than try to alter this one.

[Vicki in AZ]

I used half ground beef/half ground pork and cooked exactly per directions. We loved it! It is 5 stars for ease, frugality, and taste.

[kitchenslave03]

What a great use for ground beef!!!! I tweaked a bit by cutting back to 1/2 T oil, using 1/2 lb lean ground beef, and adding some shredded carrot, sliced bell pepper and broccoli I blanched in the pasta water. I added the veggies at the end with the noodles so they would stay crispy. I only needed 1 T cornstarch to thicken, and 3/4 lb pasta. Was soooo good we can't wait to have it again.