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Ginger-scallion noodles and minced beef

Ginger-scallion sauce over no-cook chowmein noodles mixed with a quick stir-fried meat is a home-cooked version of 'fast food.'

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Tastes Like Home
Ginger-scallion sauce goes well with many things – noodles, rice, spread over thick crusty toast, or even tossed with a garden salad. You can also serve it with seafood and poultry or over grilled steak.

Several years ago I was introduced to ginger-scallion sauce, and since then, it has become my go-to sauce whenever I want something tasty to eat, fast! There is essentially no "cooking" involved in making the sauce, you simply grate, and/or finely mince the ingredients and pour hot oil over everything.

Easy, right? The best part is that this sauce goes well with many things – noodles (all types, including pasta), rice, boiled ground provisions, spread over thick crusty toast, or even tossed with a garden salad. You can also serve it with seafood and poultry or over grilled skirt or flank steak. Grilled pork chops? Yeah, that, too!
 
My friend Nadini introduced me to these no-cook chowmein noodles and they come in two varieties: fine and broad. In this dish I used the broad noodles. Like the sauce, there is no real cooking involved. Just as you would pour boiling water over rice noodles to rehydrate them, the same process is involved here. You see what I am saying about fast food here?
 
Most of the time I never include meat in my ginger-scallion noodles, I eat it just so, and too much of it. However, the other day I had some cooked minced beef left over from another dish I made – I think you see and know where I am going with this. I simply heated a wok (or use any deep pan you have), drizzled in some oil, reheated the cooked mince, tossed in the ginger-scallion sauce and noodles, toss, toss, toss until everything was heated through and mixed together.

Done!

Ginger-scallion noodles and minced beef

For the sauce:

4 to 6 scallions sliced thinly (white/purple and green parts)
2 tablespoons grated fresh root ginger
2 teaspoons grated garlic
Finely minced hot pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon rice wine, apple cider vinegar, or white vinegar
Salt to taste
6 to 8 tablespoons vegetable/canola oil
3/4 teaspoon toasted sesame oil (optional)

1. Mix together the scallions, ginger, garlic, pepper, vinegar and salt in a deep, heatproof bowl.

2. Heat the oil until almost smoking hot and pour over the ingredients in the bowl and mix well with a fork.

3. Add sesame oil if using and mix in to the sauce. Set aside for 10 minutes so that the flavors can meld.

For the noodles:
 
Use any noodles of your choosing and cook/prepare according to package instructions.
 
To assemble:
 
Toss the noodles with the sauce (depending on how much noodles you cooked, you may not need to use all of the sauce. Store the remainder in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Will last for a week).

Additions:
 
Ground meat (beef, pork, chicken, turkey) and shrimp can be added to the noodle mixture as well as vegetables. Here's what's to do: stir-fry the meat or shrimp and vegetables, then add noodles and sauce and toss to mix.

Related post on Tastes Like Home: Guyanese-style Homemade Chicken Chowmein

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