recipes
hot and spicy noodles, three ways
It was International Hot and Spicy Food Day on Jan 16th and we extended it to a week, bringing you the spiciest noodles from the spiciest part of the world, Asia.
Asian cuisine is known for its spice and its incredible flavour. But all these spices have incredible health benefits as well – the likes of turmeric, cumin, garlic, ginger all have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial effects.
We thought noodles were the best to embody the spice and flavour profiles of different parts of Asia, so here goes, enjoy!
pad thai
thai-inspired
A classic thai dish we all adore and you can’t deny the pure bliss you get from the feeling the peanut crunch as you bite into it, the tangy sourness from the sauce and lime and the after heat from the chilli. A fully body experience really.
"hakka" noodles
indo chinese-inspired
While Hakka cuisine often refers to a style of cuisine of those who settled in the harbour and port areas of Hong Kong, for many in South Asia, “Hakka cuisine” is often your childhood interpretation of Chinese cuisine. Hakka noodles is actually an Indian/Pakistani version of North Eastern Chinese cuisine – nothing representative of the authentic hakka cuisine. But either ways, here’s a tribute to childhood, street style indo-chinese food!
cumin paneer biang biang noodles
chinese-inspired
This has been the most fun because we got to bang (or biang) noodles with our hands, paired with a spicy sauce from Xi’an. We took a homieats twist and used paneer instead pork or lamb to replace the protein in this dish!
the stuff
thai rice stick noodles
the sauce:
3 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp soy sauce
45 ml water
4 tbsp tamarind (the hero!)
the protein:
15 shrimps
2-3 eggs
3-4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 onion, sliced
scallions, chopped
(bean sprouts if you like)
the garnish:
roasted peanuts, chopped
more scallions
dry chilli flakes
lime wedges
the method
- Soak the noodles in water for an hour.
- Prep the sauce. Melt the sugar in medium heat until it turns dark brown.
- Immediately add the water, tamarind and soy sauce. (don’t worry if the sugar hardens!)
- Let it simmer and turn off the heat to let the sugar dissolve.
- While the sugar dissolves, time to get the stir fry in.
- In a pan, sear the shrimps.
- Take them off the pan, and add garlic, onion and scallions until they wilt.
- Now, check if the sugar is dissolved and the sauce is all smooooth.
- Turn the heat up and drain and add the noodles in the pan and pour the sauce into the pan.
- Stir until the sauce is all soaked up and cooked. add a little water if the noodles are undercooked.
- Shove the noodles to the side, add oil and crack a couple of eggs.
- Break the yolks and let it cook for a bit before you stir up the noodles.
- Add the shrimps back in and stir.
- Pop onto a plate. Sprinkle some chilli flakes, peanuts and scallions.
- Squeeze some lime, twirl on a chopstick and enjoy!
hakka noodles
the stuff
egg noodles
the veggies
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 inch ginger, minced
1 red onion, diced
1 green chilli, diced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 carrot, sliced
leeks (or scallions… or both), thinly sliced
the spice & sauce:
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp siracha
1 tbsp rice vinegar
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tsp chilli oil, to serve
the method
- Boil and drain your noodles (follow the instructions on your packet!).
- Coat the drained noodles in some oil to prevent them from sticking.
- Heat up some oil in a wok then dump in your ginger, garlic, and green chillies.
- Next up, onions. Then the rest of your veggies.
- Saute until slightly soft but still a bit crunchy.
- Push them to the sides and make a well in the middle.
- Pour in the soy sauce, siracha, and rice vinegar in the middle. stir to coat the veggies well. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Dump in your noodles and give it a bigggg stir.
- Final touch – some chilli oil for that extra spice and voila!
cumin paneer biang biang noodles
the stuff
the noodles:
400g flour
220 ml water
1/2 tsp salt
Side note: the instructions from Omnivore’s Cookbook is probably better, follow that!
the spice:
2 tbsp cumin seeds
2 tsp sichuan peppercorns (or just normal)
1 tsp coriander seeds
the sauce:
1/2 cup chilli oil
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup rice wine
8 tsp soy sauce
the veggies:
a block of paneer
1 red onion, sliced
1 chilli, sliced
garlic and ginger, minced
coriander, to serve
the method
- First, prep the noodle dough. Stir water and salt until it dissolves.
- Add flour into a large bowl and splash water, little by little, mixing it with chopsticks or a spatula.
- Once all the water is added, the dough looks like shaggy threads.
- Knead the dough into a rough ball. (doesn’t have to be smooth!)
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 min.
- Once the dough is rested, knead it for 1-2 min until it’s smooth.
- Divide the dough in half and roll each dough into a 1/2cm thick oval.
- Lather it up in oil and let it rest for 2 hours.
- Meanwhile, prep the spice. Add cumin, peppercorns and coriander to a dry pan and roast over medium heat for 5 min, until you hear them pop.
- Take the spices off the heat and grind them – manual pound on a mortar and pestle like we did (great arm workout) or a quick 1 min press on an electric grinder.
- In a bowl, marinate the cubed paneer with half the fresh spice, salt and oil for 15 minutes.
- Prep the sauce. Mix the chilli oil, vinegar, wine and soy sauce.
- Add oil to the pan and add garlic, ginger and the paneer until its brown.
- Add onions and chillies and fry until they’re soft.
- Add the remaining spice mix to coat everything.
- Pour the sauce and stir fry for another 30 sec and turn the heat off.
- By now, the noodle dough should be all stretchy, so boil a pot of water.
- Take your prepared dough and cut them lengthwise, we embrace difference and diversity so we had different lengths and widths (or really just amateurs).
- Now the fun bit, stretch each piece as much as possible by banging or bianging it against the table.
- Throw it into the boiled water and cook for 1-2 min.
- Drain the noodles and toss it in the spicy sauce in medium heat.
- Drop in some coriander and YUM.