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Satay beef instant noodles

Name: Satay beef instant noodles
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 1 servings
Cuisine: Cantonese
Ingredients: Instant noodles 1 packet (100 g); Rump steak 100 g; Garlic 2 cloves; Light soy sauce 2½ tsp; Sugar 2 tsp; Peppercorn, chiefly white a pinch; Cornflour 1 tsp; Cooking oil 1½ tbsp; Satay sauce 1 tbsp (15 g); Peanut butter 1 tsp; Sesame oil a few drops; Chinese lettuce 1–2 leaves

沙嗲牛肉公仔麵

Noodles in soupNoodlesBreakfastWeekendKids like itEasyhands-on 15 min · start to finish 35 min

“A bowl of noodles, an egg and a cup of tea. That is a morning.”

Ingredientsserves 1

雜貨舖Instant noodles· Nissin sesame-oil (出前一丁) or Doll (公仔麵), with its soup sachet1 packet (100 g)

街市Rump steak· sliced thin across the grain100 g

街市Garlic· chopped2 cloves

雜貨舖Light soy sauce· 1 tsp for the marinade, the rest in the satay sauce2½ tsp

雜貨舖Sugar· ½ tsp for the marinade, 1½ tsp in the satay sauce2 tsp

百子櫃Peppercorn, chiefly white· ground white pepper, a pinch each in the marinade and the saucea pinch

雜貨舖Cornflour· cornflour, for the marinade1 tsp

雜貨舖Cooking oil· 1 tsp to seal the marinade, the rest for frying1½ tbsp

雜貨舖Satay sauce· Hong Kong satay sauce, or sha cha with a little peanut butter; not Malaysian peanut satay1 tbsp (15 g)

雜貨舖Peanut butter· smooth1 tsp

雜貨舖Sesame oila few drops

街市Chinese lettuce· optional1–2 leaves

Method

Marinate the beef: mix the slices with a teaspoon of soy, half a teaspoon of sugar and a pinch of pepper, then work in two tablespoons of water a spoonful at a time, rubbing until the meat will take no more; add the cornflour, and seal with a teaspoon of oil. Twenty minutes at least, an hour if there is time. No salt in the marinade; it tightens the meat.
Stir the satay sauce together: satay paste, peanut butter, the rest of the soy and sugar, a few drops of sesame oil, a pinch of pepper and 50 ml of water, until it is a dark tea-coloured paste.
Heat the wok or frying pan hard, add the oil, spread the beef in one layer and fry until six or seven parts done, still faintly pink; lift out.
Fry the garlic in the remaining oil for ten seconds, pour in the sauce and bring it to the boil, return the beef and toss until the sauce thickens and clings to the meat; turn off the heat.
Only now cook the noodles: two and a half to three minutes in boiling water; make up the soup sachet in the bowl with about 300 ml of hot water. Lift the noodles straight into the soup, or rinse them in cold water first if you like them springy.
Lay the lettuce on the noodles, pile the satay beef on top with its sauce running into the soup, and eat at once; the noodles go soft if they wait.

Take care

Contains peanut (satay paste, peanut butter), a declared allergen in Australia, and this is often a child's first bowl with peanut in it; contains soy and wheat (noodles, soy sauce, satay paste) and sesame; many satay pastes contain dried shrimp or fish, so check the jar. The beef is served just cooked.

The story

Satay beef noodles are the most-ordered 常餐 noodle in Hong Kong, and in HK01's poll of favourite instant-noodle toppings it missed the top spot only narrowly. The satay is a Cantonese rewrite of a Southeast Asian sauce, peanut-sweet rather than spicy, and it is the taste Hong Kong people abroad try first to reproduce; the Hong Kong grocers in Britain publish it as the first recipe for new arrivals.

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Lo Fo Tong is cultural food-heritage reference, not medical advice. If you are pregnant, unwell or on medication, talk to your doctor or registered practitioner before changing what is in the pot.