Szechuan or Schezwan Hakka Noodles is a perfect one-bowl meal to satisfy your craving for Chinese food, especially Indo-Chinese (Chinese fusion food with an Indian spicy touch)!!! Soft, al dente noodles are smothered in a fragrant, spicy chili-garlic paste with crunchy healthy vegetables to add to the nutrient value of your Asian meal!
Sundays and lunch is sometimes a simple affair with just rice, dal and a stir fry vegetable or even some khara pongal (a one-pot rice and lentil dish from south India) with some potato chips on the side. I have even made just a soup and toast on one of those lazy Sundays when I just want to plonk myself in front of the idiot box (TV!!) for some mindless channel surfing or just browse the internet for some interesting food news!!
This Sunday, I wanted to clean out my refrigerator. There were some carrots, cabbage and bell peppers (red and green) lying around and the only quick dish that came to my mind was noodles! It had been a long time since I had bought the noodles packet.
To give a spicy kick to the plain noodles and vegetables, I fished out the bottle of homemade chili-garlic paste from the refrigerator and simple vegetable noodles were transformed to a spicy Szechuan delight!!!
If you do not have chili garlic paste, use any readymade bottle of chili paste or make my homemade chili–garlic paste which can be stored in the refrigerator for months. For an instant version, just soak about 20 to 30 dry red chillies in hot water (you can deseed them if you want) for about 30 minutes, drain and make a paste with 5 to 6 peeled garlic along with a teaspoon of vinegar, salt and a pinch of salt.
Making this is pretty straight forward; just cook the noodles (any type, egg, wheat, hakka) al dente. Stir fry all the vegetables (again, any vegetable you have on hand and even tofu or paneer, Indian cottage cheese; non-vegetarians can add chicken, egg or seafood) on high heat along with chili-garlic paste and mix in the cooked noodles. Ratio of noodles to vegetables is your choice; we love more vegetables in our noodles). Add soy sauce, vinegar (or lemon juice if you prefer) and salt to taste, fiery, tasty Szechuan noodles is ready.
Pair this one-bowl dish with a complementing Chinese soup (I made a sumptuous sweet corn soup with some frozen corn I found at the back of the freezer; well I told you I was cleaning out the refrigerator!!) and my Sunday meal was transformed to a Indo-Chinese experience!
Once you have prepped all the ingredients (julienne or chop them, boil the noodles etc.) making this is very quick and fast. Do try and let me know in the comments below or on my Facebook page.
While you are at it, try my Quick Fried Rice, Indo-Chinese vegetable puffs etc.
How to make Szechuan Hakka Noodles with step-by-step method:
- Boil the noodles as per instructions on the packet. Drain well, add some oil and mix.
- Keep aside to cool.
- Chop all the vegetables.
- Heat oil in a large wok or kadai.
- Once the oil is hot, add chopped ginger and garlic and sauté for a few seconds till the raw smell is reduced.
- Add sliced onions and fry till lightly soft, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chili garlic paste and sauté again to fry the chili paste a little.
- Add carrots, cabbage and mushrooms and fry on high for about 1 minute.
- Stir in the rest of the vegetables, red and green bell peppers and fry again for a few seconds on high.
- Make sure you do not overcook the vegetables; the best part of any Chinese dish is the crunchy vegetables!!
- Once the vegetables are cooked to a crispy crunchy texture, stir in the noodles.
- Add soy sauce, vinegar and salt to taste and toss well to coat the noodles and vegetables well.
- Once heated through well, remove from heat, garnish with chopped green onions or even coriander leaves/cilantro and serve hot with any soup on the side.
- Enjoy!!!!
Soft, al dente noodles are smothered in a fragrant, spicy chili-garlic paste with crunchy healthy vegetables to add to the nutrient value of your Asian meal!
Ingredients
- ½ packet noodles (I got about 2 heaped cups of cooked noodles)
- ¼ cup julienned carrots
- ¼ cup long shreds of cabbage
- ¼ cup green pepper/capsicum, cut into long pieces
- ¼ cup red bell pepper, cut into long pieces
- ½ cup sliced mushrooms
- ½ cup sliced red onions
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped garlic
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped ginger
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped green onions
- 2 teaspoons white vinegar
- 1 to 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons chili-garlic paste (according to your heat level)
- 3 tablespoons oil (preferably sesame oil)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Boil the noodles as per instructions on the packet. Drain well, add some oil and mix.
- Keep aside to cool.
- Heat oil in a large wok or kadai.
- Once the oil is hot, add chopped ginger and garlic and sauté for a few seconds till the raw smell is reduced.
- Add sliced onions and fry till lightly soft, about 1 minute.
- Stir in chili garlic paste and sauté again to fry the chili paste a little.
- Add carrots, cabbage and mushrooms and fry on high for about 1 minute.
- Stir in the rest of the vegetables, red and green bell peppers and fry again for a few seconds on high.
- Make sure you do not overcook the vegetables; the best part of any Chinese dish is the crunchy vegetables!!
- Add soy sauce, vinegar and salt to taste and toss well to coat the noodles and vegetables well.
- Once heated through well, remove from heat, garnish with chopped green onions or even coriander leaves/cilantro and serve hot with any soup on the side.
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