Choose any noodles you like for this tasty dish. It's a boiled-noodle-and-sauce dish not a stir-fry, so expect chewy noodles with sauce. Ramen noodles are particularly great like this.
Ingredients
300g skinless, boneless, pork belly, cut into 5 mm cubes
450g fresh Hokkien-style noodles
1 tsp potato starch*
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 Spanish onion, peeled, diced
3 cloves garlic, grated or finely chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
4 tbsp pickled radish, diced*
4 tbsp salted Chinese black beans (also called douchi)*
1 tsp white sugar
1 tsp sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp soy sauce
¼ cup chicken stock
½ tsp toasted sesame oil
roasted sesame seeds
large handful of deseeded cucumber, julienned
*Note: Potato starch, pickled radish and salted black beans are available from Asian food stores.
Method
1. In a small bowl, combine the potato starch and 30ml water and set aside.
2. In a large wok, heat the vegetable oil over a medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook for 6-7 minutes, stirring frequently, until browned on all sides, then add onion, garlic, ginger and radish and cook for 5 minutes, until onions have softened.
3. Stir in black beans, sugar, salt and pepper to taste. Add soy and chicken stock. Simmer gently for a minute or two.
4. Stir in potato starch mixture, simmer for a further 3 minutes, stirring frequently until sauce thickens.
5. In a large pot of boiling salted water cook the noodles according to instructions, drain and rinse.
To serve: Divide the noodles into 4 big bowls. Spoon the pork and sauce mixture on top of noodles and garnish with cucumber, sesame oil and sesame seeds.