Sichuan Spicy Cold Noodle (四川麻辣涼面)
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To give myself a break from this winter diet (which mainly includes stews, soups, and stuff that’s generally hot and saucy) that I‘ve been having, I decided to make some comfort food , something tastes like home that I’ve been craving for. As a bonus, you’ll be glad that you’ve found this post if you have some leftover chicken or turkey meat that you don’t know what to do with. You are about to turn that into something really yummy.
For those of you noodle fanatics who appreciate the essence of the famous Dan Dan Noodle, you’ll surely love his less known brother named Sichuan cold noodle. Like the Dan Dan Noodle, this addictive classic cold noodle dish is spicy, sour, garlicky, and sweet. Of course, as you’ve guessed it also features the “ma la”( 麻辣) or tongue numbing Sichuan peppercorn in the special Sichuan spicy sauce.
Similar to the hot and sour noodle, the Sichuan cold noodle also a very common dish found all over the streets in Sichuan (Szechuan) region. I missed the days when I could just grab a snack size bowl of these noodles from one of many street vendors and chow it down as I walk back home from school. More formally though, the cold noodles are served with congee or soup as a simple brunch.
In this recipe, I used Japanese soba noodles instead of Chinese wheat noodle. I find the texture of soba just a little better for the cold noodle. The Sichuan spicy sauce in the recipe is so versatile that I encourage you to try it on different ingredients. You’ll be surprised how well it goes with your other ingredients.
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Sichuan Spicy Cold Noodle – Ingredients (for 4 people)
4 roll Dry soba noodle
1 piece Leftover chicken meat (or freshly made chicken)
1 oz Carrots, thinly shredded
2 oz Mung bean sprouts
Sichuan spicy sauce
5 tbsp Soy sauce
2 – 3 tbsp Hot chili oil (add more if you like it spicy)
1 tbsp sugar
1.5 tbsp Chinese dark vinegar (or rice vinegar)
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder
2 tbsp water
1 tsp Salt
½ tsp Minced ginger
½ tsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp each of Minced garlic, chopped scallion, and chopped cilantro[/stextbox]
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Sichuan Spicy Cold Noodle – Stey By Step
1. For Sichuan spicy sauce, combine all spicy sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir to mix. This can be done in advance.
2. Blanched the mung bean sprouts and carrots in boiling water for about 30 seconds. Drain and set aside.
3. Shredded the chicken into small stripes.
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4. Cook the soba until al dente. About 4 minutes. Emerge the noodles in running cold water immediate to chill. Drain the noodles on a mesh strainer.
5. Place the bean sprouts, noodles on a plate. Top the noodles with chicken and carrots. Lastly, dress the noodles with 2 to 3 tbsp of Sichuan spicy sauce.
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Hi, I am wondering how do you make the chicken? Just fried a piece of chicken breast? any marinate process?
Hi Ziwei, thanks for stopping my blog. For the chicken I just marinate with salt and pepper and pan sear on stove top. You can certainly grill it or broil it. Thanks again for your comment.
I lived in Chengdu for 10 months, and I loved this dish. Sichuan food is the best Chinese food in my opinion. Do you have a recipe for making chicken dry pot?
Hello Ashley, I am so glad that you love Sichuan food. I think I know the chicken dry pot you are referring to. Just to confirm, the chicken dry pot i know has bone-in chicken chunks cooked with dried chili, Sichuan peppercorn, and assorted veggies. Please let me know.
Yes it is! 🙂
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I have been searching for a recipe for the hot and sour noodles they serve at the Taiwanese restaurant, A&Js, which is in southern California and the Washington D.C. area and serves northern Chinese dim sum. Their noodles, served either hot or cold, are thick homemade noodle in a red sauce (no meat or anything but some green onion pieces). It is addictive, and I am moving away from Washington soon. Could this be it? Or can you suggest a recipe? Thanks!
Hello Cindy,
First of all thanks for the question.
I’ve never been to A&J (don’t think there’s one in NYC) but I checked out some of their pictures on Yelp. Without having actually tried it I’d say this cold noodle recipe will be a good start.
The chicken in my recipe is a nice addition but you don’t really need it. You’ll also want to play with the ratio of hot chili / soy sauce / black vinegar / sugar in order to match the restaurant flavor.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions! Good luck!
Just wanted to say thanks! I added a 1/2 Tbsp. more vinegar, sugar, and ginger, and it’s pretty close to A&Js.
Hi Cindy, I appreciate for your feedback! I am glad that you were able to twig it to match A&J’s cold noodles. I hope you get to try some of the other recipes on this site as well.
Thanks! I’m a 外国朋友who is leaving 四川 soon after a few years in 南充。I was just eating 凉面for dinner and realized that I am going to miss it. They seem to use a variety of ‘noodles’ here although I haven’t quite figured out what they all are. My favorite are probably just plain old flour noodles. They also added cucumber and this green seaweedy-looking thing. I’m so excited that you are sharing your cooking knowledge with this world…especially because my efforts in learning how to cook local food hardly have amounted to much except for a few escapades in frying 空心菜…
Hi Shelley,
Thanks for sharing your Sichuan cuisine experience. I was just told by some local friends that the weather in Sichuan has been brutal the past few weeks that they have been having cold noodles and porridge more often than usual ( how I wish I can have that kind of luxury here).
I like my cold noodle with all tyes of noodles as long as they are cooked al dente but I agree that fresh Chinese flour noodle is one of my favorites…
Speaking of 空心菜, my preferred way of making it is the sweet and sour cabbage （糖醋白菜） . I’ll be sure to share recipe soon. Thanks again for your visit and I hope to see you more often.
PS where are you going to be next?
Yum yum yum. sweet and sour! I still don’t know what we call 空心菜. Is it watercress? Maybe you could help me figure out how to do 蒲桃鱼！？! Yes! There have even been some pretty wild Thunderstorms this month. The temperature is starting to climb back up now, and we’ve been seeing more and more bare beer bellies sitting around hotpots. I’m actually moving to Thailand for an entirely different culinary experience!
I believe it’s called water spinach or water convolvulus (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ipomoea_aquatica)
And yes, eating hotpot half naked when it’s 100 F out is quite a scene in Sichuan or perhaps other areas provinces by now. Hotpot is one of the things I miss the most about Sichuan.
Is the 蒲桃鱼 a dish consists of fried fish covered in a plummy sweet and sour sauce? If so I think I can post a recipe.
I am so jealous of you heading to Thailand. If you like spicy food you’ll be in good hands 🙂
Yay! That’s the one!
I am trying this today, but since it’s Lent, we will be trying it without the chicken. 😉
Thanks for the wonderful recipe!!
Hi Xing, the meatless version is just as good. Please let me know how it comes out!
i didn’t notice the type of vinegar(distilled) we had and it was lot more sour than the rice or the red vinegar. I cut down the vinegar the 2nd time, much better. loved it!!
Thanks Xing for letting me know. I am glad to hear the adjustment worked out for you!
You know, I tried several times to cook chinese food but my recipes turn out always not chinese…They lack something every time…and I’m so in love with chinese food…
Your blog I think could help me…
Hi Mika, I totally understand what you mean. Ironically I also like Italian food, but when I follow a recipe I often don’t know if I cooked something correctly or not. I think it all comes with experience and practice. The more you do the better you’ll get!
LOVE this cold dish! but I’m gonna cut out the hot chili oil 😀
Bummer on the hot chili oil part but I agree this is a great cold dish to have.
Interesting dish. I like spicy food a lot.
I’ve not seen Sichuan peppercorn powder in my place here. Need to hunt for it.
The Sichuan peppercorn is available in most of the Chinese grocery stores around the world. Although there was/has been a ban here in the States, I have never had problem locating it. Good luck!
I went to Chongqing on my recent trip to China, the food there is simply amazing!!!
Hi Miranda, what was your favorite food/dish from Chongqing?
wow I love Dan Dan Mian and this Sichuan cold noodle sounds really delicious! Would love to try it.
Definitely try it out in a Sichuan restaurant or better yet make it yourself using the recipe!