Chinese Spaghetti

Photo: flickr user Natalia Lobato

Ingredients

pound Bean sprouts

1 tablespoon Sesame seed oil

2 tablespoons Peas, (fresh or frozen)

cup Chicken broth, per person

1 Cucumber hoisin sauce)

3 Eggs

3 tablespoons Soy sauce

cup Green onions, chopped

1 tablespoon Chinese rice wine

1 cup Chinese noodles, (or

teaspoon Sugar (omit if hoisin, linguine) per person

1 pound Lean pork or beef

teaspoon MSG, chopped into small p

1 teaspoon Ginger, crushed

Preparation

TO PREPARE THE MEAT SAUCE: Heat about 3 T oil in wok, brown the ginger and green onion, then add meat and brown together.

Mix together the bean (or hoisin) and soy sauces, add this mixture to the meat, and stir fry briefly. Then add rice wine, sugar, MSG and sesame oil.

Add the chicken broth and simmer for about 3 minutes, until the sauce becomes thick and shiny. Put mixture in a serving bowl and set aside.

(GARNISHES)

O Boil bean sprouts for 1 minute, drain, and put in serving bowl.

O Warm peas and put in a serving bowl.

O Cut cucumber into very fine strips, or grate. Place in serving bowl.

O Scramble eggs, fry into very thin pancakes, and cut into thin strips.

TO SERVE: Cook noodles in boiling water for 3 minutes; drain. If you are preparing this dish ahead, rinse with cold water, drain, and add about 1 T sesame seed oil and mix well.

Serve about 1 cup hot or cold noodles in a bowl, then add the garnishes and meat sauce to taste.

NOTES:* The original Chinese spaghetti -

This recipe is an interestingvariation from the usual restaurant chinese food. When I learned this dish, I realized that this was the origin of the Italian pasta dishes. It still serves as a reminder that there is a huge variety of Northern Chinese dishes that use wheat-based starches instead of rice.

Yield:serves 6-8.

* This dish can be prepared a day ahead and served cold. The selection of vegetables in the garnish is pretty arbitrary. All kinds of vegetable combinations are good. The only rule is that they should all be cut into thin strips.

Difficulty: easy to moderate.

Time: 1-2 hours (lots of preparation, little cooking).

Precision: Measure the sauce ingredients.