Hand-torn noodles!

 Once upon a time we were supposed to be moving back into our house at the end of September. For a variety of reasons, that did not happen. To commemorate the return home (even though it hasn't happened yet), my sister sent us a kit from Xi'an Famous Foods via Goldbelly (a really cool food delivery service). The kit contained all the ingredients needed to make their famous hot-oil seared noodles--including the noodle dough that had to be stretched and torn. It was so humid today and me, and dough...let's just say I approached the task with a certain amount of trepidation.


Today's cast--it's super important that everything is laid out and ready--including the utensils and pots you want to use. Once things got going, it went rapidly.


The noodle dough had a nice feel to it; smooth and elastic and actually kind of oily.


You grab each end, making sure not to pinch it too hard. Then you gently stretch it out.


When it's about shoulder width long, you gently pull while flapping the noodle up and down, letting it smack the countertop.


This was not as hard as I had feared.


Once the noodle is about 5 feet long, it is torn from the center towards the ends, but not all the way through; it stays joined at each end (my full video is at the end of this post).


A serving is 2 sections of dough so I got to do this 8 times.


I left them sandwiched in parchment paper for a few minutes while I finished setting up. I should have left them resting stretched out because they got a bit stuck together.


About 4 minutes in boiling water--the only mildly humbug part was each serving has to be made individually and it had to be served immediately. That meant yelling at my guys that their serving was almost ready so they'd better hurry and get to the kitchen.


Cabbage was added to the end of the cooking and then both were drained and put in a small pot.


Aromatics (ginger, green onion, celery and chili powder) were placed in a cluster on the top of the noodles. A couple of spoonfuls of Xi'an's noodle sauce were added, too.


Hot oil that was just beginning to smoke was poured onto the aromatics. The sizzle was quite satisfying.


Then everything was tossed together.


It was so darn good--the noodles had a great chewy texture and the flavors were fantastic. The level of spiciness can be adjusted for each individual's preference, too. It was such a satisfying dish that while we were eating it no one cared that we were eating a hot, spicy dish in hot, humid weather. 

Thanks, Ralph!

Here's the full noodle pulling video!



Here are some great links to check out:





Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 2, 2020 at 7:59 PM

    Wow! That looks like fun to make and yummy to eat! Thanks for sharing this.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AKA JudyOctober 2, 2020 at 9:11 PM

      It was fun and much less labor intensive than I had feared. The results were mighty tasty! Thanks for your comment and for stopping by!

      Delete

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