NEEDHAM, Mass. — From 1984 until 2003, Sally Ling’s was a favored destination in Boston’s Waterfront District. Owned by Sally Ling and Edward Nan Liu, the restaurant was one of the first fine-dining Chinese establishments in the city. As the daughter of Ling and Liu, Nadia Liu Spellman opened […]
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NEEDHAM, Mass. —
From 1984 until 2003, Sally Ling’s was a favored destination in Boston’s Waterfront District. Owned by Sally Ling and Edward Nan Liu, the restaurant was one of the first fine-dining Chinese establishments in the city.
As the daughter of Ling and Liu, Nadia Liu Spellman opened her own restaurant in 2014: Dumpling Daughter. Spellman’s restaurant has been quick to grow in popularity and currently has locations in Weston, Cambridge, and Brookline.
Recently, Spellman published a cookbook as an ode to her family. Titled "Dumpling Daughter: Heirloom Recipes from our Restaurants and Home Kitchens," the cookbook offers recipes from both Sally Ling’s, Dumpling Daughter, and family recipes that have been passed down for generations.
Below is the recipe for Nadia’s Grandma’s Beijing Meat Sauce:
Ingredients
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
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1 large yellow onion, peeled and diced
1 pound ground pork, 80% lean
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine
1 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons Tian Mian Jiang (sweet bean paste)
12 ounces five spice tofu (or substitute with 14 ounces well-dried, extra firm tofu), diced into ¼-inch cubes
1 tablespoon XO sauce
1 pound dry white noodles
1 English cucumber
Cooking
Heat a large pan over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, add the oil. When it shimmers, add the garlic and the onion. Cook until the onion is tender, about 8 minutes.
Add the ground pork and cook continuously, crumbling it into smaller bits. (I like to use a metal soup ladle to really press down and break it apart.) Cook until the pork begins to brown, about 3 minutes.
Add the wine and cook until absorbed, about 1 minute. Add the hoisin sauce, the sweet bean paste, and ½ cup water, and mix well. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 4 minutes. Add the tofu and the XO sauce, and continue to simmer until the tofu is warmed through, about 2 minutes.
Cook your noodles according to the package directions. While the noodles cook, prepare the cucumber garnish by cutting into matchsticks.
When the noodles are done and drained, portion them out in individual pasta bowls and ladle a generous amount of the sauce over the steaming noodles. Garnish with the julienned cucumbers.
This sauce will keep well in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Freeze in small batches to enjoy for up to 6 months.
