What is a good way to clean up all the peppery beef sauce? With some spaghetti!
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My Story
A few months ago, I was looking for a recipe for ground beef and ended up locating four to try. A few weeks ago, I had to use up some ground beef, so I pulled out one of the recipes that I had saved.
Inspiring Recipe
The recipe that I chose to reference was Asian Ground Beef Noodles from the website, Cooking With Lei. Of the five recipes from her that I’ve attempted, I would consider this a great tasty everyday recipe.
First Try
With ground beef already purchased, I just had to get some spaghetti and was good to go.
Ingredients to Use
Since I was scaling the recipe based on one pound of ground beef, I increased the amounts listed on the default recipe for each ingredient as follows:
- 3 1/2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of oil
- 3 1/2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce
- 1/2 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon of grated ginger
- 1 tablespoon + 2/3 teaspoon of white pepper powder
- 1 cup + 6 ounces + 1/2 tablespoon + 1 1/3 teaspoons of water (for the white pepper powder)
- 3 1/2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of corn starch
- 7 ounces + 1 1/3 teaspoons of water (for the corn starch)
- 3 1/2 tablespoons + 1/2 teaspoon of spring onion (chopped)
- 7 2/3 ounces of spaghetti
In regards to substitutions, I replaced vermicelli with spaghetti based on the store’s availability.
Lastly, because the Chinese dark vinegar and chili oil were optional, I left them out of the recipe because I don’t stock these items at home.
Steps to Prepare
For the instructions, I made minor tweaks to the first three out of five steps as shown below:
Step 1 – For more room, I substituted the saucepan with a wok.
Step 2 – After adding the water and white pepper to the wok, I brought the liquid to a simmer on high heat before lowering it back to medium to simmer further. Also, additional water was unnecessary.
Step 3 – For convenience, I used a saucepan instead of a pot.
Time to Eat
As it was the first time using Italian pasta for a Chinese dish, I was excited to taste the result!
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 * |  | |  |
To me, the noodles had the perfect texture. For some of us, the sauce was overpowered with white pepper, but for others it was good.
Second Try
For the second round, I just wanted to repeat the results.
Ingredients to Use
For this try, there was no need to change the ingredients nor the corresponding proportions as compared to the first try.
Steps to Prepare
In regards to the process, I repeated what I did during the first time around.
Time to Eat
Here’s a bowl of noodles ready to go!
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 * | | | |
The dish was still good and peppery, but the noodles were a little softer.
While I enjoyed the taste of the Asian Ground Beef Noodles, I can do the following for the texture next time:
Continuous Improvement
- Watch the cooking time for the noodles, so they come out al dente.
This dish reminded me of the times I had white pepper powder growing up. As a result, I would like to share the following with my younger self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- White pepper powder was a seasoning often used in light-colored dishes, e.g., porridge, stir-fried fish fillets, etc.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the recipe, Asian Ground Beef Noodles, from the website, Cooking With Lei?
- Learn more about white pepper? (What Is White Pepper? A Guide to Buying, Cooking, and Storing White Pepper, an article from The Spruce Eats website, is one resource that might be helpful.)
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)
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