These dish literally translates into random ingredient sauce with noodles. According to wikipedia, it's fried sauce noodles. I guess it depends on the accent used for the Zha sound to determine whether it means random ingredients or fried. To me, I think random ingredients makes the most sense. I'll explain why below.
There really is no right way to make this sauce. I've made it several ways and they all taste pretty similar. In my version, I use dried tofu (I have a blog explaining what it is) and ground pork. The wikipedia recipe is only a meat one.
Ingredients
4 pieces of dried tofu
.75 - 1 pound of ground pork
1 T chopped scallions
1 clove of minced garlic
2 T garlic bean paste (you can find this in the Asian section of any grocery store)
2 T hoisin sauce
2-3 T soy sauce (to taste)
1/4-1/2 c water
1-2 T of sugar (to taste)
1 T oil
1. You want to cut the tofu into small cubes. Splice each piece of tofu into half or a third. (Decreasing the thickness of the tofu). Then, julienne the square slices, and then dice into cubes. (about 1/2 cm)
2. Pour about 1 T of oil into a hot pan. (You can use stainless) When the oil is hot, add the scallions and garlic. Stir fry until they turn golden brown.
3. Add the ground pork and after browning, add the bean paste, hoisin sauce and soy sauce to the meat. Simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the tofu to the mixture, and then add enough water so that the consistency of the sauce is like a thick spaghetti sauce. Let the sauce boil and add enough sugar to your liking.
5. Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes and serve over cooked noodles. Garnish with thinly julienned cucumbers and/or bean sprouts. Some people like to add some hot chilli sauce or rice vinegar.
6. You can easily freeze the left over sauce and reheat for a quick and easy meal. (My mom made me several batches that got me through freshman year of college)
There really is no right way to make this sauce. I've made it several ways and they all taste pretty similar. In my version, I use dried tofu (I have a blog explaining what it is) and ground pork. The wikipedia recipe is only a meat one.
Ingredients
4 pieces of dried tofu
.75 - 1 pound of ground pork
1 T chopped scallions
1 clove of minced garlic
2 T garlic bean paste (you can find this in the Asian section of any grocery store)
2 T hoisin sauce
2-3 T soy sauce (to taste)
1/4-1/2 c water
1-2 T of sugar (to taste)
1 T oil
1. You want to cut the tofu into small cubes. Splice each piece of tofu into half or a third. (Decreasing the thickness of the tofu). Then, julienne the square slices, and then dice into cubes. (about 1/2 cm)
2. Pour about 1 T of oil into a hot pan. (You can use stainless) When the oil is hot, add the scallions and garlic. Stir fry until they turn golden brown.
3. Add the ground pork and after browning, add the bean paste, hoisin sauce and soy sauce to the meat. Simmer for about 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the tofu to the mixture, and then add enough water so that the consistency of the sauce is like a thick spaghetti sauce. Let the sauce boil and add enough sugar to your liking.
5. Let the sauce simmer for about 10 minutes and serve over cooked noodles. Garnish with thinly julienned cucumbers and/or bean sprouts. Some people like to add some hot chilli sauce or rice vinegar.
6. You can easily freeze the left over sauce and reheat for a quick and easy meal. (My mom made me several batches that got me through freshman year of college)