Beef noodles, sweet then immediately not
The sauce is three jars you already own, whisked in the time the water boils.
At a Glance
Story
The original leans on a jarred black bean chile sauce that is a nuisance to source. Soy, brown sugar, gochujang and a teaspoon of white miso cover the same ground: salt, sweetness, fermented heat and depth. The miso is the part people skip and the part that makes it taste bought rather than assembled.
Ingredients
- 8 oz fresh ramen noodles
- 10 oz ground beef
- 10 oz baby bok choythinly sliced, stems and leaves kept apart
- 3 oz carrotsshredded
- 2 scallionsthinly sliced, whites and greens kept apart
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp gochujang
- 1 tsp white miso
- 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
- neutral oilsalt, pepper
Method
The sweetness arrives first and politely, then the gochujang turns up. Ready before the kettle has finished sulking.
- Salted water on to boil. Whisk the soy, brown sugar, gochujang, miso and ¼ cup of warm water until the miso has dissolved completely.
- Noodles into the water, stirred apart, 3 to 5 minutes to tender. Drain, then rinse under warm water for half a minute so they stop clinging.
- Meanwhile, brown the beef in a large high-sided pan over medium high, 2 to 3 minutes, breaking it up as you go. Pour off the fat.
- Bok choy stems, carrots and scallion whites. Season, 3 to 4 minutes, until the vegetables give and the beef is through.
- Noodles, sauce and bok choy leaves all at once. Toss hard over the heat 1 to 2 minutes until every strand is lacquered and the leaves have wilted into it.
- Sesame seeds and scallion greens.
Chopsticks, a low table, and nobody sitting up straight.
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