Recipe: Gluten-Free Beef Chow Fun

Being born in Hong Kong, one of my greatest joys is sharing my culture with my wife by creating gluten-free versions of my favorite Cantonese and East Asian dishes. Beef Chow Fun (Beef fried noodles/乾炒牛河) is a staple in Cantonese cuisine, famous for its delicious flavor, ubiquity, and wok hei (wok air/鑊氣), i.e. umami flavor imparted from a level of caramelization/charring that only comes with high heat. A wok is highly recommended for cooking this dish, but like every facet of a celiac's life, making do and good enough are key principles to follow; if you like how it tastes coming out of a frying pan, who are we to judge!

As you can tell from our travel guides, we believe in being uncompromising in our celiac lifestyle, and this extends to our kitchen as well. Food has always been a key part of our relationship, from winning Alina over with homemade gluten-free lemon bars on our second date, to a bulgogi beach kbbq for our first Valentine's Day. I would consider my cooking style to be lazy-chic: wanting to go all out for dishes that makes Alina feel like she's not missing out on anything, but also taking reasonable shortcuts where available. Flavor, texture, and quality ingredients are all important, but the 80/20 rule still applies: We've got enough to deal with as a celiac family, so we're not going to spend all day in the kitchen if we can find a way to still make it delicious in 30 minutes.

The parts for this recipe are simple enough: prep the sauce, fry some beef and veggies, and reconstitute some rice noodles. Read on, and we'll walk you through step by step! And of course, we'll share our preferred substitutions for a gluten-free spin on this traditional Cantonese dish.

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Ingredients (Serving Size: 2-3)

• Sauce (see recommended brands and purchasing options in our gluten-free sauces post):

  • 3 tbsp gluten-free Chinese soy sauce

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil (naturally gluten-free, but we opt for certified gluten-free versions to be extra safe)

  • 1 tbsp gluten-free mirin (used in place of shaoxing wine)

• 2 tsp minced ginger (OR 2 cubes of frozen ginger)

• 7 oz shahe fun/rice noodles (wide rice stick preferred)*

• 1/2 lb beef, thinly sliced**

• Veggies***:

  • 1/2 lb bean sprouts

  • 1/2 lb chives bud OR green onion, thinly sliced

  • 1/2 of a medium or large onion (yellow, sweet or red), julienned

[For your convenience, we have also compiled the ingredients into a shopping list on Instacart]

*Rice Noodles: Traditionally, shahe fun (i.e. wide rice noodles) is used. We've had good experiences with the Three Ladies Brand, but they don't seem to sell the L (large) version online; check in your local stores to see if it's available near you. This also seems to be an option, but we haven't tried this brand ourselves. Whichever brand you choose, the noodle's ingredients should only be rice and water; if there are any other ingredients listed, we'd be wary about potential gluten cross contact and try to find a certified gluten-free option instead.

**Beef: The type of the beef you use will heavily impact the dish, but there's a wide variety of options that yield a delicious end result. Traditional Chinese preparers will use a flank or chuck steak, cut into thin slices and tenderized, but we like to keep it simple with pre-sliced hotpot beef (available at your local East Asian grocery store; ribeye or round is great) or trimmings (this really depends on your local store, of our two local 99 Ranch Markets, one sells American and Japanese Wagyu trimmings that are good enough to use, while the other sells trimmings that are highly sinew-y).

***Veggies: We regularly go back and forth on whether chives should be included due the the amount of soaking, pre-cooking and cutting it takes to not be too hard. If you'd like to cut down the prep time, green onions are an excellent alternative. In addition, onions (we prefer to use sweet or yellow onions) and bean sprouts are standard for this dish, but feel free to alter according to your preferences.

Gluten-Free Beef Chow Fun Recipe

Estimated Prep Time: 1 hour; Cooking Time: 30 minutes

1. Prep:

   1. Soak the rice noodles according to their instructions*. *Our preferred brand asks for a 60-minute warm water soak, so plan ahead.

   2. If using chives, pre-boil them for 5 minutes.

   3. To make the sauce, combine the gluten-free soy sauce, sesame oil, and gluten-free mirin in a bowl, and stir to mix.

2. Fry up the beef in a wok or pan until it is nice and charred (medium - medium high heat for a 2-3 minutes). Set aside.

3. Fry the onion and green onions/chives until tender and caramelized (about 10 minutes at medium heat; see picture above).

4. Add bean sprouts to the wok/pan with the other vegetables, and fry for an additional minute.

5. Add beef, rice noodles, and sauce into the wok/pan and fry for an additional 4 minutes, stirring constantly but not too vigorously.

6. Serve on a plate or bowl.

7. Enjoy!

For plating reference, this is how a gluten-free beef chow fun is served at Madame Fu Chinoise (see our Gluten-Free Hong Kong Destination Guide for more details):

This is one of our favorites, so we hope it brings you as much joy as it has brought us. Bon Appetit!