Easy Asian Beef and Noodles

Late July. Post-birthday settling. The pandemic summer continues — hot, isolated, the cooking both therapy and occupation. I have made approximately 180 meals in the last four months. The number is staggering and also just — dinner. One hundred and eighty dinners, each one Korean or Taiwanese or fusion, each one made in the Fremont kitchen, each one eaten at the IKEA table. The table has witnessed 180 meals in four months and has not complained, which is more than I can say for the dishes, which I have washed 180 times and which are definitely complaining.

James and I went to H Mart this week — masked, distanced, the pandemic grocery trip. H Mart was surreal: the same aisles, the same ajummas behind the counters, but with masks and plexiglass and the eerie silence of a Korean grocery store at half capacity. I bought: gochugaru, doenjang, dried anchovies, sweet rice flour, sesame oil. The staples. The foundation. The pantry that feeds the pandemic. The H Mart cashier recognized me (I have been shopping here for four years, every week) and said, through her mask: "Still cooking Korean?" I said, "Always cooking Korean." She nodded. The nod was: good. Keep going. The Korean grandmother approval, delivered through masks and plexiglass and the specific resilience of a Korean grocery store worker in a pandemic.

The birth mother search: the Eastern Social Welfare Society sent an email. The active search is resuming as Korea lifts restrictions. They have reviewed my case file. They are conducting inquiries. The search is active again. Active. The word is a verb. Someone in Seoul is looking for my birth mother. The looking is happening while I buy gochugaru at H Mart and cook pandemic jjigae and eat 180 meals at an IKEA table. The looking is happening.

Saturday: Bellevue. Karen made her summer gazpacho. I brought kimchi fried rice. The fried rice used kimchi from my last batch — six weeks aged, perfect sourness, the kimchi that is now my signature, my fingerprint, the ferment that is mine. Karen ate the fried rice and said, "Your kimchi is getting better every batch." Better every batch. The trend continues. Four years. Dozens of batches. Each one better. Each one more mine.

The week Karen said my kimchi was getting better every batch, I came home and made a bowl of this — because kimchi fried rice deserves a companion, something fast and savory and built from the same pantry I lugged back from H Mart in a mask. Easy Asian Beef and Noodles is exactly the kind of dish that feeds meal 181 when you’ve been cooking for four months straight: it comes together quickly, it tastes like intention, and it honors every bottle of sesame oil and splash of soy sauce you stocked up on when the world went quiet.

Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 20 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes | Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
8 oz thin rice noodles or lo mein noodles
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 teaspoon gochugaru (Korean red pepper flakes) or chili flakes, to taste
2 teaspoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Cook the noodles. Prepare noodles according to package directions. Drain, rinse under cold water, and toss with 1 teaspoon sesame oil to prevent sticking. Set aside.
Mix the sauce. In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, remaining sesame oil, and gochugaru. Set aside.
Brown the beef. Heat 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add ground beef, season with salt and pepper, and cook 6–8 minutes, breaking apart with a spoon, until browned and cooked through. Drain excess fat.
Build the flavor base. Push the beef to one side of the pan and add remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add garlic and ginger to the cleared space and sauté 30–60 seconds until fragrant, then stir into the beef.
Combine. Add the cooked noodles to the skillet and pour the sauce over everything. Toss well over medium-high heat for 2–3 minutes until the noodles are coated and heated through.
Serve. Divide into bowls and top with sliced green onions and sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Easy Asian Beef and Noodles — The Kimchi Kitchen Keeps Going