[Chinese Recipes] Sichuan Soy Sauce Noodles

A local star, Sichuan soy sauce noodles with the magic weapon sweetened soy sauce. This Sichuan soy sauce noodle is also known as Tian Shui Mian (甜水面), literally mean Sweet Water noodles. However, the sweet water doesn’t refer to water actually, it is Sichuan sweetened soy sauce.

Sichuan cuisine is famous for its fabulous and unique flavors. We get lots of versions of flavors, including Mala, Hot and Sour, fish fragrant, Garlic flavor, Strange flavor (怪味), sweet and sour (糖醋), dried tangerine flavor and so many others. We love to combine very humble and easy to find ingredient together, with different processing ways and ratio, to create different types of flavors. Sichuan cuisine now is mainly famous for Mala dishes for example Mapo tofu, twice cooked pork belly, Mala chicken and Kung Pao chicken, but there are a large group worth introducing and trying. In the previous post, I introduce a Sichuan style garlic pork slices. And I get feedback from the readers, some of them even match the sauce with vegetables and it works great too. So I love to introduce this noodle with little awareness but worthing trying.

Sichuan sweetened soy sauce (复制酱油) is secret weapon of lots of Sichuan dishes. If you love to make Sichuan dishes at home, you will find the the flavors are quite simple, without so many layers and so profound as eaten in restaurants. That’s the reason! Comparing with directly used soy sauce, sweetened soy sauce has little raw soy flavor and can produce a more complex and impressive because of the herbs and spices contained.

The noodle used in this dish is similar with udon noodles, with lower water content and quick thick in appearance.Wheat flour becomes quite chewy and full of wheat aroma after long time kneading. When coated with the strong sauce, the dish can be extremely satisfying!!

Cook’s Note

More kneading not only influence the texture of the noodles, but also contribute more flavors and a more light bright color. So I recommend kneading the dough 3-4 times. 

Don’t over cook the noodles, transfer them out when just cooked.
Ingredients
Noodle
300 g all purpose flour , around 2 cups, no shifting
140 ml water
pinch of salt
Seasonings for each serving
1~2 tbsp. homemade Sichuan sweetened soy sauce
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 tbsp. sesame paste
1/2 tsp. sugar
1 ~2 tsp. Chinese chili oil
2 tsp. crushed peanuts and sesame seeds
freshly ground Sichuan peppercorn powder

Instructions


Mix salt with flour and then pour in water. The dough can be slightly hardened at the first. Knead forcefully until almost smooth. Wrap with plastic wrapper and rest for 15 minutes. Then continue kneading for 2 or 3 minutes, wrap well, rest for another 15 minutes. If you have enough time, more-kneading during the process makes the noodle more chewier and whiter. You can knead it for 2-4 times during the 1 hour resting. 

When the resting is done, continue kneading for half of minute, and then roll the dough out into a large rectangle (around 4mm to 6mm in thickness). Then cut the rectangle into wide strips (around 6 to 8mm in wide too). Slightly stretch the noodles.


Bring a large pot of water to a boiling and then add salt. Place the noodles in, cook for around 3 minutes (for thicker version: 5 minutes )until the noodles are just cooked. Don't over cook the noodles! 

Transfer the noodles to serving bowl, add sweetened soy sauce, sugar, garlic, chili oil, sesame paste and then top with Sichuan peppercorn powder. Mix well and serve hot!

This recipe and image sources are referred in website: Chinasichuanfood.com. Thanks so much!