Hot & Sour Noodles

Description

Hot & Sour Noodles Instructions

Toppings:

• 5 pcs of your choice of poached chicken, beef, or pork (see below cooking instruction)
• ¼ cup roasted peanuts /soybeans or to taste (see below cooking instruction)
• 1 tablespoon chopped coriander or to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic or to taste
• 1 tablespoon chopped scallions or to taste
• 2 tablespoon chopped Sichuan pickle or any pickled vegetable you have on hand

Tips:  

Check the cooking instructions on the noodle package with your choice of noodle. Well-cooked sweet potato glass noodles should be soft, easy to chew but not mushy. Taste it if you are uncertain.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Soak the noodles in warm water for about half an hour until pliable.
2. Mix the broth well with chili oil, Chinese black vinegar, light soy sauce, Sichuan peppercorn powder, sesame oil and sugar in a big bowl, set aside.
3. Boil the soft noodles until relatively tender (they’ll still be chewy).
4. Once the noodle is cook, take it out and get it in the bowl.
5. Add on all the toppings, Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed, and serve it warm.

Note:  we will make a few above toppings for the noodle soup. These are the traditional ingredients. We will prepare one by one as follows. But feel free to adjust it, be creative to make your own toppings.

 

Broth

Tips:

• You may use homemade broth or shop bought chicken, beef, pork, or vegetable stock are all fine for this dish.
• Vegetarians can use hot water or vegetable stock instead.

Ingredients for broth:

Big pork bone or Chicken leg	2 pcs	White pepper	1 tsp
Chinese cooking wine	1 tablespoon	Salt	to taste
Ginger	3 slices	Red date (optional)	4 pcs

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boiling the pork bone or chicken leg with water covered it around 5 minutes in a medium pot,
2. Take out the bone or chicken and rinse it with running water,
3. Boil the pork bone or chicken in a big pot with 5~8cups water, add cooking wine, red date (optional) and ginger as well, turn to medium heat once it boiled, let it cook for an hour and half,
4. Add white pepper and salt to taste and set aside.

 

Roast peanuts /soybeans

Tips:

• You can use store-bought roasted peanuts /soybeans, but if using dried soybeans like I did, soak them for at least 3 hours and drain thoroughly ahead of class.
• You can roast more than ¼ cup size if you like it, it also can be safe for later.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pour 1 tablespoon of oil into a cold wok (or a frying pan).
2. Add in peanuts /soybeans, turn on a medium low heat slowly cooked until the beans are nicely browned. Gently and slowly stir around to heat them evenly and prevent burning.
3. Once it turns a mahogany brown, turn off the heat, and let the peanuts continue to cook for another one minute, this is to make sure there is no risk of burning.
4. Strain the peanuts /soybeans out and spread them out on a plate to cool completely. Set aside

 

Chili Oil

Tips:

• We want chili flakes instead of powder. We will put chili flakes and sesame into a container which can sustain high temperatures – we will pour the hot vegetable oil (temperature 240F) into it to make the chili oil.
• The higher the temperature of the oil, the less spicy the chili oil, all other things being equal.  If you want extra spicy chili oil, get spicier dry chili to make chili flakes and do not burn the chili flakes too much
• Use low heat to heat the oil with spices. The longer the heat time, the stronger the flavors from the spices in the oil.  However, do not burn the spices.
• To get the vivid red color in your chili oil, find the right oil temperature and the right amount of oil and chili flakes.
• To find the perfect balance among the fragrance, heat level and the vivid color, it requires experience with the chili flakes you are using. There is no one temperature of oil that magically fits different kinds of chili flakes. so, it’s ok if your chili oil is not red enough.

Ingredients for chili oil:

Chili flakes	2 tablespoons	Vegetable oil	3 tablespoons
Bay leaf	2 pcs	Cinnamon	1 stalk
Ginger	3 slices	Scallion cut in 1 inch	1 stalk
Sesame	1 tablespoon

 

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Put chili flakes and sesame into a bowl or a container which can sustain high temperature
2. Heat Oil in a wok with Bay leaf, Cinnamon, Scallion and Ginger with low heat
3. Fry the spices till the fragrance comes out and scallion pieces are fully fried. It may take about 10 minutes depending on the heat level. Then turn off the heat and fish out the spices
4. Slowly pour the heated oil into the bowl, quickly stir the chili flakes and sesame while pouring the oil.

Poached Protein

Tips:

• You can use any kind of cooked meat you have on had already, like your left over from last night.
• Vegetarians can use egg or any vegetables you like instead.

Ingredients for Poached Protein:

• 5-10 thin slices your choice of chicken breast, beef tenderloin or pork tenderloin
• 1 tablespoon Chinese cooking wine
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1 tsp potato starch

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Put all the ingredients in a bowl, mixed fully, let it marinate for about 5 minutes.
2. Boil one cup of water in a small pot
3. Add the marinade protein slices into the boiling water piece by piece.
4. Once the protein slices change to lighter color it’s about done. (Depends on how thin your slices are, usually takes around 30 seconds)
5. Take it out to a plate and set aside.