Sichuan Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)

Name: Sichuan Cold Noodles (Liang Mian)
Total time: 30 min
Yield: Serves 2
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 250 g fresh wheat noodles (dried works — add 2 minutes to the boil); 1 tbsp (15 ml) sesame oil, for the cooled noodles' coat; 150 g cucumber, halved, seeded and cut to batons; 2 tbsp (30 ml) chilli oil with its sediment; 1½ tbsp (22 g) sesame paste, loosened with 1 tbsp (15 ml) hot water; 1 tbsp (15 ml) Chinkiang black vinegar, 1 tbsp (15 ml) light soy; 1 tsp (5 g) sugar, ½ tsp (3 g) salt, ½ tsp (2 g) Sichuan pepper powder; 2 cloves garlic, grated to a paste with a pinch of salt; 2 spring onions, sliced; a handful of bean sprouts, blanched 30 seconds (optional); Extra chilli oil and roasted peanuts, crushed, at the table's discretion

Chinese · Easy · Serves 2

The summer street's cold bowl and the xiao mian's chilled answer: fresh wheat noodles boiled springy, oiled and cooled, then tossed at the bowl's moment in the garlic-chilli-sesame dressing with the cucumber's cool shard — the heat-humidity month's own lunch across Sichuan. The technique is the noodle's oiled fan-cool (the wash-and-drain's gummy end refused) and the dressing's boldness one shade over the target.

Quantities live in the recipe card.

The noodles

add 2 minutes to the boil)

The dressing

The finish

- The cooling's setup: a tray or wide plate ready by the stove, the sesame oil at hand — the noodles' oiled cool begins the moment they drain, and a noodle left to cool in its own steam is the gummy clump's own recipe. - The dressing's order: the sesame paste loosened first with the hot water, then the vinegar, soy, sugar, salt, Sichuan pepper and garlic whisked in, the chilli oil stirred last — the same loosen-first law as the bang bang chicken's sauce.

Step 1. The boil and the oiled cool. The noodles boiled to the springy bite (2–3 minutes fresh, 4–5 dried), drained, and turned straight onto the tray — the sesame oil tossed through with the chopsticks' lift while the steam still rises, the noodles separated to single strands and cooled 10 minutes at the air (or the fridge's 5). Checkpoint — a cooled strand pulled from the tray is separate, slick and springy — no starch's tack between the fingers, the oil's thin coat doing the noodle's whole preservation.

Step 2. The toss and the bowl. The cucumber batons and blanched sprouts divided to two bowls, the cooled noodles over, and the dressing poured and tossed at the table's moment — the chopsticks' full turn from the bowl's bottom, the spring onion and peanuts over the top. Checkpoint — the first forkful's test: the noodle cold and springy, the dressing's fire-sour-nut sequence in the xiao mian's register but cooler and heavier on the garlic, the cucumber's snap between — the summer bowl complete, and the dressing's bold shade now the serving's exact balance on the chilled noodle. Chef’s Note — the oiled fan-cool is the dish's whole engineering and the street cart's own speed: the hot noodle tossed with oil and air-cooled keeps its separate springy strands, where the cold-water-washed noodle (the Western pantry's reflex) both flushes the surface starch that the dressing needs to grip and waterlogs the wheat. The restaurant trick is the tray and the oil; the home method is the same on any baking sheet — and the dressed noodle eaten within ten minutes, before the sesame paste's slow absorb.