Beef hor fun is one of my favourite things to eat.

It is a stir-fried rice noodle dish with beef and vegetables and a thick gravy.

You can find it at zichar places in Singapore, where most of the dishes are of the stirfried stuff.

And sadly, something I can’t seem to find at restaurants here in the Bay Area. Instead I have to make do with what I can at home. It’s really quite different as at home it is hard to get the ‘wok hei’ or ‘breath of the wok’, that smoky flavour you get when food is cooked in a wok at scorchingly high heat.
So here is a very basic how-to, without any definite measurements. If you’d like something more specific, here’s a good one from 3 hungry tummies. 

As with much of Chinese cooking, it’s all about advance prep. You need to have everything chopped/sliced/ready to be tossed in the hot wok at the right moment.
Begin with rice noodles, preferably fresh and wide.

As you can see these aren’t fresh. Or wide. But one must make do.

If your rice noodles are fresh they can go in the (very hot) wok immediately with some soy sauce and sesame oil. You want to get some colour on those pale strands!

If it’s the dried kind like these are, they will need to be soaked in warm water for a while. Drain well then do as above. Dried noodles may need a bit longer on the hot stove.
Most beef hor funs that I’ve had usually use mustard greens. But I had some bok choy from the farmer’s market to use up. I prefer these anyway.

 

Marinate thinly sliced beef at least half an hour in advance. I used a chuck steak and sliced it thinly while it was still somewhat frozen. Oyster sauce, soy sauce, white pepper, a little sesame oil and corn flour. I also added some Worcestershire sauce but mostly because I like to add that to beef dishes.

You’ll also need to finely slice some ginger, about four to five slices. I also chopped up four cloves of garlic and a small shallot. Also get an egg ready. Not necessary but it makes things even tastier.

Sear the beef using high heat until it’s about 60-70% cooked. Put it on a plate. You will add them back to the pot again later, so don’t worry about it not being completely cooked.

Get your wok hot again, stirfry the ginger, shallots then the garlic. Then I added the bok choy, adding a bit of stock (I only had chicken stock but beef stock would be great) to help it cook faster. Add more chicken stock bring to a boil, then turn off the heat and add a cornstarch solution (cornstarch with a bit of water stirred together) to help thicken the gravy. Drizzle in the egg and stir. Then add the beef.

 

 

Then spoon your gravy over your noodles and eat while hot. If you like, serve with some sliced green chili in soy sauce.

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