Vietnamese stir-fried beef noodles

Vietnamese version (bản tiếng Việt): click here!

Stir-fried beef noodles is a popular street food in Vietnam and I love it a lot. It can be found in nearly every corner in Saigon (where I came from), but you know, the dish doesn’t have much meat. If it had more meat, the dish would be pricey and not many people wanted to buy it. However, we can totally have more meat by making this street food at home! Interestingly, I have just realized that I haven’t posted any recipe with beef or noodle, so this is gonna the first one.

Ingredients: (for 3 servings)

• Sliced beef: ~240 grams (yeah, since we made it at home so feel free to adjust the meat to your budget)
• Noodles: ~ 240 grams (3 packs of Vietnamese instant noodles)
• Boiling water: 1 L
• Cooking oil: 2 tablespoons
• Sesame oil: 3 teaspoons
• Sweet onion: 1/2 of whole onion
• Carrots: 60 grams
• Sliced green cabbage (or Napa cabbage): 2/3 cup (~150 grams)
• Garlic: 3 cloves
• Shallot: 1/4 of the shallot (the shallot in the US is pretty big so I only used 1/4 of it, if you have small shallots at key lime size, feel free to use 1-2 whole shallots)
• Seasoning:
  • Soy sauce: 2 tablespoons (for marinating the beef) + 1.5 teaspoons (for the noodles) + 2 teaspoons (for stir-fry)
  • Seasoning powder (or M.S.G): 2.5 teaspoons
  • Sugar: 1/2 teaspoons
• Garnish: cilantro, spring onions, sesame oil, black/white pepper

Preparation:

• Finely chop garlic and shallot. Julienne the carrot and sweet onion. Thin slice the cabbage and the beef. (It’s much simpler to buy the sliced beef from the butcher shop or grocery store)
• Marinate the beef: In a small bowl, add 1/3 of the chopped shallot and garlic, the beef together with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon of seasoning powder. Mix well and marinate for at least 15 minutes. A tip here is to chop the garlic and shallot first then slice the beef (if you have to) for marinating. While the beef is being marinated, deal with other vegetables.
• Remove the instant noodles from packages and place in a large bowl. Pour boiling water to cover the noodles and leave it for 3 minutes. After 3 minutes, drain the noodles, rinse with cold water, then add the sesame oil and 1.5 teaspoons of soy sauce to “season” the noodles.
• While waiting for the noodles to be cooked, preheat a large pot or wok (for easy stir-fry) on medium-high heat then add cooking oil. When the oil gets hot, add the remaining chopped garlic and shallot to the pot, stir-fry until fragrant.
• Add the julienne carrots, onions and the marinated beef to the pot, stir-fry well for 2 min. (By this time you will be dealing with the noodles because the beef takes few minutes to cook).
• Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of soy sauce to the pot and stir well for few minutes so that the veggies are seasoned.
• Add the noodles into the pot and mix well with the beef and veggies. Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of seasoning powder (or M.S.G) and stir-well.
• Right before turning off the heat, add the cabbage and mix well for 2 minutes. It’s to prevent the water released from cabbage making the noodles soggy.
• Turn off the heat the Vietnamese beef stir-fried noodles is ready to be served. Sprinkle some black pepper, top with spring onions and cilantro, then enjoy!

Total time: 30 minutes

Notes:

• In Vietnam, bok choy is used to add the green color to the dish. Bok choy really goes well with this stir-fry noodle recipe, but add them at the very end, just like cabbage.
• Veggies are optional. Skip them if you don’t like.
• If you want some spicy taste, serve the dish with some chili sauce on top.

It seems long but it’s super easy to make! I just wanted to note down a bit of time management while preparing the dish. Hope you enjoy the recipe!