Spicy Numbing Noodles
Have you ever tasted a dish while traveling abroad and thought, "I have to recreate this at home!"?
That was my exact reaction the moment I had these noodles during my recent travels to Chengdu and Chongqing!
I’d describe it as a variation of dan dan noodles, but with way more chilli oil and Sichuan peppercorns!
Each restaurant had their own variation of it, so there wasn’t really a recipe I could look up. It was the ultimate test for my taste buds to deconstruct the recipe and figure out the ingredients. While adding my twist to it of course ;)
The noodles I had in China were much simpler than this, as it was mainly a combination of noodles + chilli oil + meat sauce + chickpea garnish.
They were bloody delicious, however I found it lacking in balance, particularly in terms of protein and fibre. To address this, I added some crumbled firm tofu and shredded cabbage in this rendition!
P.S. The chickpeas have to be prepared fresh before serving, a they go soft upon keeping. If this happens, I’d recommend simply mixing it together with the crumbled tofu upon heating up.
P.P.S. If you can only make 1 component from this dish, make it the scallion-chilli oil! It’s packed full of flavour, and it’s incredibly versatile.
THE RECIPE
SERVES 2 bowls
Ingredients
Noodles
2 discs brown rice ban mee (I like Farmer Brand!)
1 small wedge of Chinese cabbage, thinly shredded
Chilli-Scallion Oil (A)
1 cup vegetable oil with high smoke point (I used rice bran oil)
3 stalks spring onion, finely sliced
4 garlic cloves, grated
2” ginger, grated
2 tbsp chilli flakes (more if you like it spicy; this yielded a mild flavour)
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder (see Notes)
1 tsp sesame seeds
2 star anise
1 cinnamon bark
Chilli-Scallion Oil (B)
1 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
½ tbsp kicap manis (or Tian Mian Jiang)
½ tsp sugar
1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
A dash of white pepper
Tofu Sauce
1 tbsp cooking oil
225g firm tofu, crumbled (see Notes)
1 tsp Dou Ban Jiang
2 tsp Chinese wine/cooking sake
1 tsp kicap manis/dark soy sauce
1 tsp five-spice powder
Sesame Paste
1 tbsp tahini
1 garlic clove, minced
1.5 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 tsp Chinkiang black vinegar
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder
½ tbsp of Chilli-Scallion Oil
A dash of water
Chickpea Garnish
½ can chickpeas, drained
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder
Directions
Noodles: place the noodles in boiling water, and cook according to instructions. 1 minute before it’s done, add in the cabbage to blanch. Once done, remove together and set aside.
Chilli-Scallion Oil:
In a medium sized bowl, add contents A, except for the oil.
In a small pot, heat the oil till it reaches about 160C.
Pour the oil over A, and mix well (enjoy the asmr…)
Fish out the cinnamon bark and star anise, then add contents B.
Set it aside to cool.
Tofu Sauce: in a medium sized saucepan, heat the oil and stir-fry the crumbled tofu until lightly browned. If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, add the Chinese wine/cooking sake to deglaze. Add the rest of the ingredients and continue cooking for another minute, or until the fragrance of the five-spice comes through. Remove from the heat and set it aside.
Sesame Paste: mix all the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well to combine. Set aside.
Chickpea Garnish: as your final step, toss the chickpeas in olive oil and Sichuan peppercorn powder, and air fry at 200˚C for 15 minutes, shaking every now and then. Be careful when opening the air fryer as the chickpeas may continue to pop!
Notes
Sichuan peppercorn powder: I made this by lightly toasting Sichuan peppercorns on a pan, then grinding it into a fine powder. I like to keep a small jar of it in my fridge to sprinkle on my soups/noodles/stir-frys!
Tofu: Make sure to remove as much water from the tofu as you can. I wrap mine in a clean kitchen cloth, wedge it between two plates, and weigh it down with a heavy jar for a couple of minutes to draw as much water out. I also dab it once more with a clean cloth after crumbling it up. This is usually the first step of the recipe that I do!
Chilli-Scallion Oil: Note that this amount will make for >2 bowls! Keep the rest as a fragrant cooking oil for your stir-frys.
Nutrition
Coming soon!