Destination
Manila
The story
Beef hofan is Manila's Chinese-Filipino beef-flat-rice-noodle dish and one of the country's most-eaten Chinoy dishes: wide flat rice noodles (ho fun in Cantonese, or hofan in Filipino spelling) stir-fried in a very hot wok with strips of marinated beef, bean sprouts, Chinese chives, sliced spring onion and a dark soy-oyster-and-Shaoxing wine glaze. Sold at every Manila Chinatown restaurant, every Chinoy neighbourhood diner, and every Filipino family-Chinese food counter across the country. Served on a big plate to share, with a small dish of chili oil and a bottle of Kikkoman soy on the side. The Cantonese beef ho fun is the direct ancestor; the Manila hofan has adapted with slightly different soy ratios and a heavier hand on garlic.
Method
Toss the beef strips with all marinade ingredients. Rest 20 minutes at room temperature.
If the flat rice noodles are cold from the fridge, run them under warm water and gently pull apart into individual strands (they clump when refrigerated). Toss with 1 tbsp oil to prevent sticking.
Whisk all sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
Warm a wok over the highest heat until smoking. Add 2 tbsp oil.
Add the marinated beef strips in a single layer. Do not stir for 60 seconds — let them sear. Toss and cook another 60 seconds until browned but still slightly rare in the middle. Tip out onto a plate.
Add 1 tbsp oil to the wok. Add garlic, ginger and sliced onion. Stir 90 seconds — onion should stay crisp.
Add the flat rice noodles to the wok. Toss gently (they break easily). Pour in the sauce mix. Toss for 60 seconds until the sauce coats every strand and starts to caramelise slightly on the wok surface.
Return the seared beef to the wok. Add bean sprouts and Chinese chives. Toss for 45 seconds — sprouts should be just wilted, not soft. Fold in the spring onions at the last moment. Tip onto a big serving platter. Serve immediately with chili oil, extra soy, calamansi and sliced fresh chili on the side.
Tips
- Very hot wok. Wok hei — the smoky char from a screaming-hot wok — is essential. Anything less and the noodles clump into a sticky mass. Use the highest heat setting on your hob.
- Fresh flat rice noodles. Dried ho fun works but has a totally different texture. Fresh (sold refrigerated at Asian grocers) is the classical choice.
- Toss noodles gently. Flat rice noodles break into short pieces when tossed hard. Use a scooping motion, not a vigorous stir.
- Sear beef first, remove. Cooking beef with noodles gives you grey stewed meat. Two-stage — sear, remove, add back at end — is the technique.
- Serve immediately. Hofan clumps within 5 minutes of plating. Get from wok to table fast.
More recipes
View all
Yellow noodles stir-fried Hokkien-style with prawns, squid, pork, kai lan and dark soy. Bangkok Chinatown's Chinese-Thai classic, tossed in a screaming wok.
Flat rice noodles stir-fried hard in a wok with prawns, cockles, Chinese sausage, chives, bean sprouts and dark sweet soy. Penang's most famous hawker dish.
Egg noodles in a deeply-simmered beef broth, topped with pork wontons, slices of tender braised beef and blanched pechay greens. Manila's kopitiam comfort soup.
Thin, crisp pork-and-vegetable rolls fried to a shatter, dipped in banana ketchup or a sweet chili vinegar. The Philippines' party finger food.
Diced beef fillet and potato cubes stir-fried hard in a black-pepper-heavy sauce, served on rice. Hong Kong cha chaan teng lunchtime standard.
Flat rice noodles wok-fried hard with beef slices, kai lan and dark sweet soy — the Teochew-Chinese Singapore hawker classic.