This is such a delicious dinner to enjoy in front of a good movie or while spending some quality time with a loved one. These chili oil noodles are such a treat and can be made easy by using ready made noodles, or more complicated by following the homemade noodle recipe I've written down here. This recipe is good with some fried tofu, stir fried veggies or on its own. I’d say this recipe serves two people if accompanied by a protein and some vegetables, but is about one large portion if eaten on its own.
Ingredients
A handful of fresh coriander
A splash of soy sauce
Crispy shallots.
Noodles Either 2 portions of your favourite noodles
Or make your own
200g all purpose flour
90g water
Method: Homemade Noodles: Mix the flour and water together until you have a hard but fairly smooth dough. Cover in cling film or place in an airtight container for 20 minutes to rest.
Pat the rested dough into a rectangle and run through a pasta machine on the thickest setting. Fold the sheet of pasta like an envelope (take the bottom of the short edges and fold ⅓ up the sheet of pasta, then grab the top and fold all the way down, so that the sheet is folded in 3) , and run it through again. Repeat the process 1 more time. Then, proceed to run your dough through the pasta machine on an increasingly “thinner” setting (without folding between each run) until you have a long sheet of pasta at your desired thickness. I usually go to setting 3-4 on my machine, where 0 is the thickest setting and 9 is the thinnest. Throughout this process remember to flour your pasta sheet well to avoid it sticking to the machine.
Flour the sheet of pasta (use LOTS of flour, you don’t want this to stick) again and split in half by slicing across (halving its length). Fold each sheet of pasta like an envelope again. Then, slice the sheet into noodles of your desired thickness, by slicing equal thickness strips in the same direction as the pasta was folded - so that the noodles have the same length as the sheet of pasta did. Unfold the noodles and toss in lots of flour, give them a good toss and a squeeze with your hand to create some texture and shape. Set aside and repeat the process with the second pasta sheet. You now have two equal piles of noodles ready for boiling!
I like to boil them in two rounds to keep the portions equal, but this is up to you. Bring a pot of water to a rolling boil and add the noodles in. Once they start floating on top of the water you can taste one to make sure it’s done, then drain the noodles off and place in a bowl.
Assembly: If using ready made noodles, cook according to package instructions, drain and add to a bowl. Toss the noodles with a few generous spoonfuls of chili oil and a splash of soy sauce, top with coriander, crispy shallots and any other toppings you might want and enjoy!
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