Ingredients
- lo mein noodles
- carrots
- broccoli
- Anniversary Noodle Sauce
- garlic (sliced)
- cucumber (peeled, diced)
- cilantro
Instructions
- Steam or boil lo mein noodles.
- Steam carrots and broccoli. Season with soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Heat Anniversary Noodle Sauce in skillet. Add broth to moisten.
- Serve in a pasta bowl – noodles, with sauce on top, veggies around edge.
- Garnish with garlic, cucumbers, cilantro.
Ingredients
- 4 Tablespoons garlic
- 5 pounds turkey (ground)
- 6 Tablespoons sherry
- 1 cup brown bean paste (-)
- 1 bunch scallions (small dice)
- 4 Tablespoons sugar
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
Instructions
- Stir fry well, breaking down turkey so it becomes "crumbly."
- Add remaining ingredients, stirring frequently until broth evaporates.
Notes
Servings estimated using 1# of meat = 3 cups, cooked with 1 cup per serving.
From Jerry's archive:
FIVE SPICE ANNIVERSARY NOODLES
This is a traditional but very special Chinese banquet dish. The long noodles symbolize “long life.” Guess it works, because we’ve been serving this dish for—twenty years now. The sauce is made usually with ground pork, but because many of our patrons prefer poultry to pork, we’ve done it the following way. We serve this for just two months twice a year, but if it always was on, we’d sell it by the wheelbarrow full.
1) Boil egg noodles al dente. Drain, remove to a warm bowl, toss with 2 tsp good Japanese sesame oil
2) Combine in bowl:
2 tsp dry sherry (or use sweet and omit the sugar), or you may
use dry vermouth
1/3 cup brown bean paste
4-5 scallions, cleaned, trimmed, diced 1/4”
1 1/2 Tbsp sugar (if using dry sherry or vermouth)
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1/2 tsp ground black pepper, to taste
3) Heat 3 Tbsp vegatable or olive oil in wok or large saucepan, add 2 Tbsp (or more) fresh garlic, stir ten seconds, add 1 to 1 1/2 lbs chopped turkey or pork. Stir fry vigorously, breaking up all clumps of meat, till meat has lost all red color. Add contents of bowl—number 2, above—and stirring frequently till almost all broth evaporates.
Put warm noodles on an attractive platter and spoon sauce all over, mixing gently.
On a complementary smaller platter, arrange the following and let guests scatter what they like on their anniversary noodles.
5-8 cloves very finely sliced raw garlic (essential)
peeled, cored, seeded, chopped cucumbers
2-3 cleaned scallions, shredded finely
shredded carrot (for color)
chopped, seeded fresh red and green hot peppers (also not
traditional, but I like them)
“Brown bean paste”? Is that code for miso?
I don’t believe it’s miso. It’s either https://thewoksoflife.com/sweet-bean-paste-dou-ban-jiang/ OR https://thewoksoflife.com/ground-bean-sauce/
Thanks!! Have you tried these pastes? I’m wondering how different they are.
I can’t say that I have tried them all but have tried many of them and although everyone without COVID symptoms would discern a difference, it’s not as though I can distinguish which flavor is more authentic or appropriate for a certain dish.
A supporting anecdote:
I posted this recipe tonight because I intended to make it for dinner. I stopped by my favorite Asian grocery store to pick up some of the key ingredients – especially the bean paste! – and when I arrived, the store was closed! Hannies wasn’t up to the task, so when I returned home tonight, I googled, “brown bean paste substitute.” Of course, half the answers suggest, “black bean paste.” Not helpful. One blog said something to the effect of, “If you have to, try oyster sauce and sambal but don’t tell anyone.” That’s what I did. Based on your question, I added some miso! At that point, all the measures/ratios were ignored and I just did my best.
The result were delicious and, weirdly, totally reminiscent of my times eating this dish at Five Spice. Authentic? Not even remotely. A quick review of “Chinese Birthday Noodles” on-line will show you that the variation of that one recipe exceeds imagination (Oh, beef meatballs OR squid? quail eggs OR mushrooms? etc.), so hard to go wrong.
I suspect if you used miso instead of brown paste, it would be excellent. Just don’t skimp on the garlic is my suggestion.