While I was living in Taiwan, cold noodle was one of my favorite lunch options during summer. It’s simple, it tastes good, and it is served cold. It is so popular in Taiwan that you can buy cold noodle from restaurants, supermarkets, convenient stores, street vendors or you can simply make it yourself! It also has so many different kind of varieties: Other than the most popular carrot strips and cucumber strips for toppings, some add chicken breast strips, some add ham strips, some put corn and some put egg strips. However the kind of variety, Chinese cold noodle is the kind of food that everyone loves!
Today I will go over the most common kind of Chinese cold noodles here. Let the cooking begin!
Chinese cold noodle Ingredients:
- 5 oz of angel hair (1/3 of 1 lb package)
- 1 Tbsp of peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp of sesame paste
- 1 Tbsp of oil
- 2 Tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp of black vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1 clove of minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp of sugar
- 2 Tbsp of water
Topping
- 1 cup of shredded carrot
- 1 cup of shredded cucumber
- 1 cup of shredded chicken breast
- 1 egg
First, boil 2 pots of water. While you are waiting for the water to boil, you should have enough time to make the egg strips.
Heat up the pan with 1 tbs of oil, and then add beaten eggs into pan. Rotate slowly so the pan is covered with a thin layer of egg.
After the egg is cooked. Remove and let it sit cool
At this moment, your water should be boiling. Put pasta in one pot and then cook for 3 to 4 min, don’t forget to stir a little bit to prevent it from sticking.
Shred the cucumber and carrot, either shredder or grater will do the work, just be extremely careful because those things are sharp, I cut my fingers more time on a grater than an actual knife.
After shredding the cucumber and the carrot, your pasta should be ready, remove the pasta and chill it in ice water. Gently rub the noodle to remove the starch, which will make the noodles stick. After 3 minutes, remove the cold noodle from water, keep the cold water for chilling chicken breast later.
Cut the chicken breast into 5 or 6 chunks so it’s quicker to be cooked. Put the chicken breast in another pot and cook at medium heat for 10 min. Ten min sounds like a long time, but we are trying to overcook the chicken breast so it’s easier to tear into strips.Now it’s time for you to mix the sauce!
Other than the 2 tbsp of water, add all sauce ingredients into a bowl, mix them well, Since the sauce can be very sticky without water, it’s better to use a spoon instead of a whisk. Use the spoon to press the undissolved solid against the bowl to break it down. Mix until it is evenly mixed.
Gradually add the water as you continue to mix the sauce until completely incorporated. If you add all the water at once, the peanut butter and sesame paste will clump up and it takes longer to mix well!
Remove the chicken breast from the pot, let it sit in ice water for 2 min or until it’s cool. Remove from water and use your hands and tear the chicken into strips.
Put all the topping on the noodle, with a scoop of sauce, enjoy your Chinese cold noodles!
- 1 Tbsp of Peanut butter
- 2 Tbsp of Sesame paste
- 1 Tbsp of oil
- 2 Tbsp of soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp of black vinegar (or white vinegar)
- 1 clove of minced garlic
- 1 Tbsp of chili oil (optional)
- 1 Tbsp of sugar
- 2 Tbsp of water
- 1 cup of shredded carrot
- 1 cup of shredded cucumber
- 1 cup of shredded chicken breast
- 1 egg
- Boil 2 pots of water
- Cook angel hair pasta in boiling water for 3 to 4 min at medium heat
- Remove pasta and put into ice cold water and drain after 3 minutes
- Cook chicken breast in boiling water for 10 mins
- Remove the chicken breast and cool to room temperature in cold water
- Make a thin layer of egg by cooking the beaten eggs in the pan for 1 min at medium heat
- Remove the egg
- Process carrot, cucumber, egg into strips
- Hand-tear the chicken breast into strips
- Mix all sauce ingredients except water in a big bowl
- Gradually add the water as you continue to mix the sauce until completely incorporated
- Add toppings to the cold noodle and drizzle with sauce