Happy Year of the Tiger

Chinese New Year 2010 is the same day as another "holiday" this year... Valentine's Day!  Since 02-14-2010 also falls on a Sunday, this weekend will only mean one thing for me - a massive food fest which will knock me into a food coma until the next year!  Coincidently, a dear friend is coming back for the weekend to bring in the New Year (a second time) and so more food-activities have been planned around her visit.  Here is what my stomach will get this weekend:

Friday night - trying a new ramen place called Orenchi that LL highly recommends!  So happy and excited that another ramen place is nearby.

Saturday - the hubby's mom is making a grand meal for Chinese New Year.  And get this, this massive meal is just for LUNCH!  On the menu (from what my hubby roughly remembers)... shark fin soup, walnut shrimp with shrimp chips, Hainanese chicken, salt & pepper pork, fried dumplings, veggie stir-fried vermicelli... yeah, I'm drooling already.  For dinner, we are going out to celebrate his nephew's birthday.  Another big meal I can imagine...

Sunday - a wonderful tea party (one of my favorite things!!) hosted by the talented EH.  She makes the best fruit tarts and delish tea sandwiches, and her tea collection always excites me.  The menu is insane... multiple different types of tea sandwiches (cucumber, smoked salmon, chicken salad, etc.), scones, cookies, pastries, mini cheesecakes (guess who is making that? :D), and besdies tea to top it off, yummy mimosas are also available.  This is just what I can roughly remember, I bet I'm missing something!  At night, we are heading over to my side of the family for hot pot (and you know hot pot eating... the selection is always abundant). 

I am taking a guess that I will gain at least 5 pounds by Monday.  Anyone tempted to make a bet?  ^_~ 

Happy New Year!  Best wishes to you for 2010.  (Oh yeah, Happy Valentine's Day too!)

By Request: Za Zang Mien (炸醬麵)

A friend requested the recipe of the Za Zang Mien I make (which I really stole from my mom), so thought I'd make a post out of it with pictures.  For you HL.

Za Zang Mien (炸醬麵), IKE Style

Za Zang Mien contains three different "sauces" all mixed together in noodles - a meat sauce, a tomato sauce, and refreshing sliced cucumbers (I know, not really a sauce but something that stands on its own).  This mix of meat, hot veggies, and cold veggies in hot boiling Chinese noodles is great any time of the day, and any season!  The hubby can kill a big bowl of Za Zang Mien in minutes.

Ingredients
Meat sauce -
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 3/4 lb. ground pork (can use turkey too)
- 1/2 can Bean Sauce, comes in plain or spicy (豆瓣酱, I get the Szechuan brand, blue can in picture below)
- 1/3 jar Sweet Flour Sauce (甜麵醬, I get the Lian How brand, the white cap jar in picture below)
- Water, if needed
Tomato sauce -
- 1 TBSP olive oil
- 4 roma tomatoes (or 2 large heirlooms), roughly diced
- 1 stalk scallion, chopped
- 1 tsp salt
- Water, if needed
- 2 Cucumbers, thinly sliced (Japanese cucumbers are highly recommended, or Persian cucumbers.  Not recommended are regular big American cucumbers as it gets too watery when thinly sliced)
- 1 pack of fresh Shanghai noodles (I like this noodle especially for Za Zang Mien because it's thick and hearty, which is a good type of noodle to mix the thick sauces with)

Steps
1. Boil a pot of water for the noodles.  Once the water is boiling, put in the noodles and cook until ready, about 10-15 minutes.

2. Slice the Japanese cucumbers with the slicer.  Put in a bowl for serving.

3. Cook the meat sauce first - heat 1 TBSP of olive oil.

4. Fry the Bean Sauce and Sweet Flour Sauce (fry sauces?  I know... sounds strange, but this is what my mom told me by mixing the two sauces together with hot frying oil) for about 2 minutes.

5. Once the two sauces are mixed well together, put in the ground meat of your choice and cook for 5 minutes, or until the ground meat is cooked.  It may be hard to see if the meat is cooked due to the dark sauces, so I would recommend cooking this for 5+ minutes to make sure.  If the sauce is becoming dry, add a bit of water.

6. Once cooked, remove meat sauce to a bowl for serving.

The two sauces mixing together... noodles cooking in the background.

7. Cook the tomato sauce next - heat 1 TBSP of olive oil.

8. Put in the diced tomatoes, chopped scallions, and salt until the tomatoes have been cooked throughly. The tomatoes should be smushed (liking my technical cooking term?), soft, and juicy. Again, if the sauce seems dry, add a bit of water.

9. Remove the tomato sauce to a bowl for serving.

10. Put the cooked noodles into a noodle bowl for serving.  Add about 2 spoonfuls of the meat and tomato sauce to the noodles.  Add as much cucumber slices as you desire.

11. Now mix mix mix! Enjoy!