Rice Noodles Sauced with Beef, Bitter Gourd, and Black Beans

At once homey and exotic, this dish runs a gamut of flavors and textures—delicious and a bit messy. Normally, I wouldn’t consider half a pound each of starch and meat sufficient for four, but the rice noodles absorb sauce and expand fluffily to yield twice the volume of wheat ones. Chewy morsels of beef and gourd are melded by a surprise ingredient—dark beer, more effective than stock in this context.