Chongqing Hot and Sour Noodles

Name: Chongqing Hot and Sour Noodles
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 2 cups (500 ml) hot stock, or use a good-quality store-bought stock; 4 cloves garlic, minced; 4 spring onions (scallions), sliced; ⅓ cup (80 ml) Chinkiang black vinegar; 1 teaspoon ground Sichuan peppercorns; 200 g (7 oz) dried sweet potato or mung bean (cellophane) noodles (see Note), soaked in cold water for 1 hour to soften and then drained; ¼ cup (60 ml) chilli oil use Lao Gan Ma chilli oil); 2 tablespoons vegetable oil; Handful of coriander (cilantro) sprigs, finely chopped; 1 tablespoon sesame seeds; ⅓ cup (50 g) ya cai (see Notes); 2 tablespoons roasted peanuts; 1 teaspoon five spice powder; ¼ cup (60 ml) light soy sauce

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Chinese-ish

By Joanna Hu and Rosheen Kaul

Published 2022

About

Also known as ‘suan la fen’ (酸辣粉), this Sichuan street food dish of bouncy potato noodles in a sour and numbing broth is flavourful, textural, bright, fresh and packed full of toppings. All you need are some basic Chinese pantry ingredients to build this bowl of seriously good times.

Ingredients

200 g (7 oz) dried sweet potato or mung bean (cellophane) noodles (see Note), soaked in cold water for 1 hour to soften and then drained

Asia
China
Sichuan
Noodles
Hong Kong
Southeast Asia

Method

Cook the softened noodles in a saucepan of boiling water until tender, 8-10 minutes. They will still be chewy, but should be fully translucent when cooked. Drain and rinse with warm water, drain again and set aside.

Heat the vegetable oil in a small frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the ground Sichuan peppercorns, five spice powder, chilli oil