10-minute authentic Taiwanese cold noodles recipe
A hearty bowl of noodles with a thick and glossy sauce made from toasted sesame paste. Can be eaten either hot or cold (see note at the bottom).
Servings: 2 people
Ingredients
Sesame sauce
- 4 tbsp
Chinese sesame paste or peanut butter - see ‘Ingredient notes’ - 2 tbsp sesame oil, double if using peanut butter
- 6 cloves of garlic crushed
- 6 tsp light soy sauce
- 1 tsp Chinese/Taiwanese black vinegar rice vinegar or even wine vinegar is fine if you can’t find this
- 2 tsp fine sugar
- ½ tsp fine salt
- 1 tsp ground white pepper or a very generous grind of black pepper
Other ingredients
- 280 g egg or buckwheat noodles (4 nests)
- 160 g beansprouts (2 handfuls)
- 4 spring onions thinly sliced
Instructions
- Make the sauce by mixing all sauce ingredients in a bowl. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary - there should be a powerful sesame flavour and it should be reasonably salty (perhaps slightly over, because it will dilute when you mix with the noodles). Sourness and sweetness (from the vinegar and sugar respectively) should be in the background, but not prominent.
- Add noodles to lightly salted water and cook according to packet instructions.
- Add beansprouts to the bubbling pot 90 seconds before the noodles are finished cooking
- Drain the noodles/beansprouts, reserving the cooking water
- Add around 150-200ml of the cooking water to the sauce and mix - this will loosen the sauce and lighten its colour, meaning it will give the noodles a glossy coating when mixed.
- To serve, place the noodles/beansprouts in a bowl and scatter over the spring onions. Top with the loosened sauce and allow the diner to mix for themselves.
- Optional - serve with Taiwnaese cucumber salad and/or chilli oil (I like Lee Kum Kee Chinese chiu chow chilli oil).
Notes
This dish can be served either hot or cold (see ‘What are Taiwanese cold noodles’ if you want to hear the technicalities). I personally prefer them hot, in which case assemble the bowls as soon as the noodles have finished cooking. If you prefer them cold, just wait until the noodles have cooled. You could use the time to julienne some cucumber and carrot, which add a nice crunch to the cold version.