This green pepper and egg over noodles (qīngjiāo jīdàn miàn) recipe is a dish that my mom used to cook for the family when I was a girl. This is my childhood memory, the taste of my mother’s cooking, but I can’t make it taste quite the same as she did. In fact, I've lost track of the smell. I miss the noodles my mother cooked in my childhood. The ingredients used in this recipe are all simple and common: Green peppers, eggs, and tomatoes. In China, home-cooked vegetables and noodles are inexpensive and common, but my mother used these ingredients to cook countless lunches and dinners for us.
Finely chop the green peppers, tomatoes and garlic cloves.
Heat your wok, pour in 15ml of oil, scramble the eggs until they are firm, then set aside for later use.
15 ml cooking oil, 2 eggs
Add 10ml of oil to the wok, first add garlic and tomatoes, stir-fry the tomatoes until they release their juices, then add the bean paste.
1 medium tomato, 2 cloves garlic, 10 ml cooking oil, 5 ml Pixian Doubanjiang bean paste
Add the green peppers. Stir-fry for 20 seconds, then add 70ml of water. Season with light soy sauce and salt (to taste).
2 green peppers, 10 ml light soy sauce, 70 ml water, 3 ml salt
Bring the soup to a boil, add eggs, simmer for 30 seconds, and pour out into a serving bowl.
2 eggs
Follow the directions on the packet of noodles: Add an appropriate amount of water to the pot, bring to a boil and add the noodles to the boiling water. When the noodles are cooked, drain them and place in a serving bowl.
80 g flat wheat noodles
Drizzle the broth over the noodles. Stir and serve.
Notes
Soy sauce and Doubanjiang (red bean paste) are both salty. Add soy sauce first, then test flavor before adding any salt.