A delicious bowl of cold noodles that requires minimal cooking and it’s great in hot weather for a refreshing taste!
We had a heatwave in the middle of April with temperature as high as 28 degrees Celcius. It felt like summer in early spring. This type of weather makes me a very lazy cook. There is nothing worse than standing around stove sweating while cooking. With weather like that I always want something simple to make and doesn’t require me standing in a hot kitchen.
Cold noodles is one of those dishes I love to cook in the summer time. It doesn’t require lot of cooking, only a bit of prep work. The only thing you need to cook is the noodles! The cold noodles I’ve had in the past are either dry or soupy. The dry version is usually with a peanut sauce with some cucumbers. The soupy version is usually with a light broth and some vinegar added to it. ‘m the type of gal that likes soups with my noodles. I also want a bit more flavour in my noodles. I decided to create my own version of cold noodle soup.
While you will find many variation of cold noodles from all over the word, this recipe is very similar to Korean cold noodles called Mul Naemyeon. It’s usually a frozen stock with cucumber, boiled egg and arrowroot noodles. You can flavor the dish with some vinegar and mustard. My version is using cold turkey stock that I had with julienne veggies, shredded chicken and a chili oil dressing for flavor.
This recipe is really simple and can be customized to your taste as well.
Ingredients
Stock: Completely optional, you can use any stock you have on hand or you can skip this. I usually prefer a more soupy noodles. I like to keep it cool by keeping it in the refrigerator or slightly frozen with some ice chunk in it.
Dressing: I used a lighter dressing as it is more refreshing. The dressing is spicy, sour and slightly sweet.
Toppings: Cucumbers are a classic topping with shredded chicken or turkey. You can also use blanched bean sprout. For a some crunch, shredded carrots are a good option.
A lot of ingredients can be prepared ahead of time and assembled when you are ready to serve. This is also great for guest as well as they can assemble what they like in their bowls.
Cold Noodles
Ingredients
Chili oil dressing
- 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn optional
- 2 tbsp chili flakes
- 4 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 cloves garlic
Toppings
- 1 cup julienned carrots
- 1 cup julienned cucumbers
- 1/2 cup shredded rotisserie chicken
- 1/4 cup cilantro optional
- 2 handful wheat noodles
- 6 cups cold turkey stock or any stock, drained
Condiments
- Apple Vinegar (optional)
Instructions
- Make the chilli oil first. Put the Sichuan peppercorn and chili flake into a bowl. Heat up the chili oil on low heat. The oil should be heated up to the point where you can see tiny bubbles when you put in fork or a knife.
- Pour the oil gently into the bowl with the chili flake. It will bubble, wait until bubbling subsides.
- Add in the rest of the ingredients into the oil and set aside.
- Boil water for noodles
- Cut the carrots, cucumbers and cilantro and set aside
- strain the stock of your choice and set aside
- Once the water boils, put in your noodles. Turn it to medium, boil for about 6 min.
- Drain your noodles and immediately rinse with cold water. This stops the cooking process and makes the noodles chewier. Place your noodles into the individual bowls.
- Assemble all your prepared ingredients and top up with the dressing. Add some vinegar to help balance the chili oil dressing.
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