Saucy Beef Chow Ho Fun Noodles or “sup chow ngau ho” is for the sauce lovers out there and a nice change from the classic “dry fried” beef chow ho fun, or “gon chow ngau ho.”
Dry vs. Saucy Chow Fun
A proper Gon Chow Ngau Ho is all about extra high heat searing beef, noodles, and scallions to “wok hay” perfection. For beginner Chinese cooks, cooking those rice noodles just right can be a little tricky, but with practice, you’ll be able to get restaurant results at home. (We’ve also got plenty of other rice noodle dishes like Thai Pad See Ew if you want to try your hand at a different recipe!)
So maybe you’re struggling with making sure your noodles don’t stick, but are still just saucy enough to achieve the right flavor. Here’s where Sup Chow Ngau Ho comes in handy.
The name literally translates to “wet fried beef ho fun rice noodles,” which in food, translates to noodles coated in a great savory sauce.
The Cantonese have a saying to describe a silky texture in food: “ho wat!” The simple literal translation is “very slippery!” which sounds pretty funny in English, but I assure you, to Cantonese folks and especially those from Hong Kong, this is a highly sought-after texture! Case in point, our silky Chinese steamed egg recipe AKA “wat dan.” It’s all coming together now, right?
For you American Born Chinese (ABCs) out there, you can probably relate to this expression. If not, just make these Saucy Beef Chow Ho Fun Noodles to know what we mean!
Saucy Beef Chow Fun: Recipe Instructions
Cut the rice noodles into 1½-inch wide pieces and set aside. They should be at room temperature.
In a wide shallow bowl, mix the beef, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and ½ teaspoon cornstarch until the beef is well coated. The beef should absorb the water and soy sauce so there’s no liquid. Set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature. For more information on preparing beef, see Bill’s post on How to Slice and Velvet Beef for stir fries.
In a bowl, combine the warmed stock or water, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, ¼ teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, and fresh ground white pepper to taste, and set aside.
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in your wok until it’s close to smoking. Add the beef to give it a quick sear for 30 seconds on each side. The beef should be cooked to about 80% doneness. Return the beef to the bowl, and set aside.
Turn the heat to medium, and add 1 tablespoon oil to the wok, along with the ginger. Let it caramelize for about 20 seconds. Next, stir in the garlic and immediately add the Chinese black mushrooms and the white portions of the scallions.
Turn the heat to high, and stir-fry for 15 seconds. Add 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine and the napa cabbage.
Stir-fry for another 15 seconds, and add the sauce mixture you prepared earlier.
Once the sauce starts to simmer and boil, add the fresh ho fun rice noodles, folding them into the sauce so the noodles don’t break apart. Reduce the heat to a simmer if needed, and after 30 seconds (or when the rice noodles are heated through), add the mung bean sprouts and the beef.
Fold in the beef and mung bean sprouts until everything is coated and heated through. Add the green portions of the scallions.
Drizzle in half of the cornstarch slurry while stirring, and cook for 20 seconds. Check the thickness of the sauce. Add more slurry until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
The sauce consistency and quantity is all per your personal preference. You can adjust the recipe by increasing the amount of stock, seasonings, and/or cornstarch slurry.
The sauce should be allowed to cook for at least 20 seconds after adding the last of the cornstarch slurry to ensure the starch gets cooked. Serve your Beef Chow Ho Fun Noodles with your favorite chili oil!
Saucy Beef Chow Ho Fun Noodles
Ingredients
For the beef:
- 12 ounces flank steak (340g, thinly sliced)
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda (optional)
- 1 teaspoon soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon cornstarch
For the rest of the dish:
- 1 pound fresh rice noodles (wide/flat noodles)
- 2 cups warm low sodium beef or chicken stock
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
- white pepper (to taste)
- 3 tablespoons canola oil (divided)
- 3 thin slices ginger
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- ½ cup fresh shiitake mushrooms (1½ ounces, 45g)
- 2 scallions (cut at an angle into 2-inch pieces, with the white and green parts separated)
- 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
- 2 cups napa cabbage (about 6 ounces/170g, cut crosswise into ½-inch pieces)
- 2 cups fresh mung bean sprouts (5 ounces/140g)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoons water)
Instructions
- Cut the rice noodles into 1½-inch wide pieces and set aside. They should be at room temperature.
- In a wide shallow bowl, mix the beef, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon soy sauce, 1 tablespoon water, 1 teaspoon vegetable oil, and ½ teaspoon cornstarch until the beef is well coated. The beef should absorb the water and soy sauce so there’s no liquid. Set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature.
- In a bowl, combine the warmed stock or water, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 2 teaspoons dark soy sauce, 2 tablespoons oyster sauce, ¼ teaspoon sugar, ¼ teaspoon sesame oil, and fresh ground white pepper to taste, and set aside.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in your wok until it’s close to smoking. Add the beef to give it a quick sear for 30 seconds on each side. The beef should be cooked to about 80% doneness. Return the beef to the bowl, and set aside.
- Turn the heat to medium, and add 1 tablespoon oil to the wok, along with the ginger. Let it caramelize for about 20 seconds. Next, stir in the garlic and immediately add the Chinese black mushrooms and the white portions of the scallions.
- Turn the heat to high, and stir-fry for 15 seconds. Add 1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine and the napa cabbage.
- Stir-fry for another 15 seconds, and add the sauce mixture you prepared earlier. Once the sauce starts to simmer and boil, add the fresh ho fun rice noodles, folding them into the sauce so the noodles don’t break apart. Reduce the heat to a simmer if needed, and after 30 seconds (or when the rice noodles are heated through), add the mung bean sprouts and the beef.
- Fold in the beef and mung bean sprouts until everything is coated and heated through. Add the green portions of the scallions.
- Drizzle in half of the cornstarch slurry while stirring, and cook for 20 seconds. Check the thickness of the sauce. Add more slurry until the sauce is thick enough to coat a spoon.
- The sauce consistency and quantity is all per your personal preference. You can adjust the recipe by increasing the amount of stock, seasonings, and/or cornstarch slurry.
- The sauce should be allowed to cook for at least 20 seconds after adding the last of the cornstarch slurry to ensure the starch gets cooked. Serve your Beef Chow Ho Fun Noodles with your favorite chili oil!
nutrition facts
Hi, hello from Ireland! I love your site and regularly cook recipes from it .I tried it tonight based on the fact that it looks delish but it also tallied with what I had in my fridge. It was delicious and myself, the husband and the 3 girl daughters loved it. I did digress a bit and used extra veg and (I hope you are not horrified 😱) used udon noodles as that’s what I had to hand. My question is there is a good portion left over and as it’s very saucy (yum) is it good to freeze please? Thanks!
Ho Sonja, thanks for the shoutout from Ireland! Glad you are improvising with ingredients you can find locally and cooking delicious food for your family!
Excellent recipe, and everything I hoped it would be! It’s going into my treasurebox of recipes!! THANK YOU!!
You’re welcome LizQ!
Made this recipe tonight and it was fantastic. I used wide dried and soaked vietnamese rice noodles since that’s what I had on hand, and they worked just fine. Definitely a keeper.
How wonderful, Andrea! So glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Andrea, the dried noodles are the next best thing to fresh ;-) Glad you enjoyed it!
I finally came across some (semi) fresh rice noodles at the local Asian grocery and found this recipe – perfect! I’ve never had saucy chow fun before so it sounded interesting. This is excellent! I may cut the stock down to 1.5 cups next time though because it was just a tad liquidy – I probably should have kept the heat up higher longer. Great variation on a classic dish.
Forgot to mention – also added some fresh chili (from jar), chiu chow, and MSG. The usual extra kickers that put the final touch on everything!
Hi jarrett, love that you added the chili in the dish instead of on the side!
Hi Jarrett, if you can get the fresh noodles, this is going to be a regular meal :) Thanks for sharing your experience!
Ok. Another one of your recipes that turned out fabulous. I was not surprised that it turned out wonderful. I agree with Patience, I doubled the dark soy sauce. I also added a few shakes (2 tablespoon of oyster sauce) and a few shakes of light soy sauce.
I forgot to buy napa cabbage and that was the only thing that was not included in the recipe. I don’t think I missed it.
Also – I doubled everything so that I only have to cook once and eat it all week long.
The flank steak with the baking soda made the beef tender. Delicious! Thank you thank you thank you.
You’re welcome Q&B! Try the napa cabbage next time, as it adds a nice sweetness and texture contrast to the rice noodles. And you get some veggies with your meal :)
Made this tonight exactly as per the recipe and everyone loved it! Mine wasn’t as beautiful and dark as the photos though. More dark soy next time? Really really delicious! Thank you!
Hi Patience, yes, sounds like a little bit more dark soy sauce is in order!
So glad I made this today because it was really spot on. Another great recipe – thank you so much!! It’s really wonderful to be able to create these classics at home. : )
Hi Monica, excellent to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
Are you sure about the 2 cups warm low sodium beef or chicken stock? I tried this and the dish came out like a soup? I had to use a ladle and spoon out about 1/3 of it. But overall – the dish tasted good after that!
Hi Henry, My wok stove is especially high on the BTUs and generates a lot of heat so that may be why your version was soupier than normal. The dish should definitely be wet, even more so than our photos show. I think when we photographed this dish, it dried out due to the time needed to take photos. For your case, turn the heat higher next time or add less stock. ;-)
Hi Bill,
What would you suggest for making this recipe vegetarian? Would you simply cut out the beef and oyster sauce (sub for veg stir fry sauce) or would you suggest adding a firm tofu?
Thanks!
Christine
Hi Christine, you can use vegetarian oyster sauce and instead of beef, use sliced king trumpet mushrooms. That reminds me that I have to add king mushrooms to our beans, melons, mushrooms and root vegetable page!
Made this for dinner last night for the kids supposedly but….ended up eating more than them! ?
Thanks Bill!
Hi Rheena, you’re quite welcome! It’s rare when you have leftovers of this dish :)