Chinese spaghetti with spicy meat sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g minced meat (originally pork mince, beef or mixed meat will also work)
• 4 tsp sauce (Hoisin), available in Asian stores
• 5 tbsp soy sauce
• 2 tbsp rice wine or sherry
• 20 g ginger, very finely chopped
• 2 medium-sized onions, very finely chopped
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves, very finely chopped
• pepper
• chili powder
• 2 tbsp, leveled cornstarch in approx. 100 ml water
• 1 large cucumber(s), pitted and sliced ​​into thin 5 cm strips
• 4 tbsp oil (sesame oil)
• 250 ml vegetable stock
• 400 g noodles (flat Taiwanese wheat noodles or equivalent amount of spaghettini)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 30 minutes

Zha Jiang Mian

Mix 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, and a pinch of pepper with the minced meat. Finely chop the onions, garlic cloves, and ginger (or use a blender if necessary), then mix half of this into the minced meat and set aside. Cut the cucumber into thin, approximately 5 cm long strips and set aside (or in a cool place if necessary). Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a wok and fry the onion, ginger, and garlic mixture until lightly golden. Then add the minced meat and fry over medium heat until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Deglaze with 2 tablespoons of rice wine or sherry, then add 4 heaped teaspoons of hoisin sauce and chili powder to your desired spiciness and continue stirring over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add 2-3 tablespoons of soy sauce, stir briefly, immediately pour in the stock, and simmer gently for another 5 minutes. Dissolve the starch in about 0.1 l of cold water and pour it into the simmering meat sauce. Stir immediately (otherwise it will become lumpy!) and simmer on a low heat, stirring constantly (max. 10 mins.). Season the sauce to taste with a little soy sauce. It should end up being slightly creamy (the consistency of a Bolognese sauce). In the meantime, bring the pasta water to a boil and cook the noodles according to the package instructions. Finally, drain the noodles, place them in a bowl and toss with 2 tbsp sesame oil if desired (to prevent the noodles from sticking together). Pour the creamy meat sauce over one half of the noodles and the cold cucumber strips (very refreshing) over the other half of the noodles and serve immediately.