• Serves 4
  3 Thai bird chiles, finely chopped
  1/4 cup finely chopped garlic
  1 tablespoon fermented black beans, rinsed and drained
  1 red onion, finely diced
  2/3 cup hoisin sauce
  1 pound ground beef, not too lean
  1/2 cup Shaoxing wine
  1 cup cranberries
  cornstarch slurry made with chicken stock (optional)
  1 pound fresh or dried Shanghai noodles
  1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, julienned
  2 carrots, peeled and julienned
  2 cups mung bean sprouts, picked
  Canola oil for cooking
  Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  

Heat a large saucepan over high heat and lightly coat with oil. Swirl to coat bottom of pan and, when shimmering, add chiles, garlic, ginger black beans and onion and saute until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add hoisin sauce and cook, stirring, to remove the raw flavor, about 2 minutes. Add beef and brown for about 6 minutes, breaking up any large chunks. Add Shaoxing to deglaze and add cranberries. Reduce heat to low and simmer until liquid achieves sauce-like consistency. (You can add the cornstarch slurry to thicken, if necessary.) Season if necessary. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add noodles, cook until al dente, about 5 minutes for fresh, 10 for dried. While noodles are cooking, blanch bean sprouts and carrots in noodle water by placing them, separately, in a fine mesh strainer and holding in the boiling water. Drain noodles well and serve family-style, in a large pasta bowl. Ladle beef over and garnish with cucumber, carrots and mung bean sprouts.

>>This recipe appears in Episode #515.

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