Sauce and noods. Sauce and noods. Nothing better than sauce and noodles.
A Chengdu favourite, Tian Shui Mian (Sweet Water Noodles), are hand-made with wheat flour, hand-pulled and only cooked until like 90% done, so they still have some bite left in them. The noods are then doused in a sauce made of chile oil, sweet aromatic soy sauce, crushed peanuts, garlic, sesame paste & oil. The secret to this recipe is the addition of sweet aromatic soy sauce, which was one of the many highlights of Fuschia Dunlop's book.
*if you don't have the time to make your own noodles, try finding some fresh udon-style noodles to swap in.
MAKES: 2 servings
TAKES: 1 hr if you’re making your own noodles. (If you sub hand made for store-bought noodles then 10-15 min)
NOODLE INGREDIENTS
250 grams of all-purpose flour (The original recipe calls for Chinese low gluten flour, which is the same flour you use for steam buns, but all-purpose works fine too.)
a dash of salt
1/2 cup of lukewarm water
a glug of cooking oil
SAUCE INGREDIENTS
3-4 cloves of garlic crushed
2 tbsp chile oil, plus sediment
2 tbsp sweet aromatic soy sauce (see recipe here)
2 tbsp roasted peanuts crushed
2 tsp sesame paste
2 tsp sesame oil
salt to taste
NOODLE INSTRUCTIONS
Pile the flour and salt on your counter and make a well in the middle.
Slowly pour the lukewarm water into the centre of the well, drawing the flour into the centre as you go. (Like any homemade pasta technique).
Once you have a soft but firm dough, knead this for 5-10 min until it’s smooth and even.
Cover with a damp cloth and set aside to rest for 20-40 min. (Or until the dough is pliable and easy to roll out)
After letting the dough rest, dust your counter with flour and roll out the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick. (Use this trick to help get the dough flat.)
With a sharp knife cut the noodles into 1/2 inch strips and dust them with flour to prevent them from sticking.
Bring a pot of water to boil.
Now grab a 2-3 of these noodles and stretch them out, whacking them onto your counter. Your goal is to stretch them until the noodles are as thick as chopsticks.
Chuck these into your boiling pot of water and boil for about 5 min or until they’re al dente.
Pour the noodles into a colander, rinse with cold water to stop them cooking and then drizzle over a glug of cooking oil so they don’t stick to each other.
Divide into bowls, add sauce ingredients, mix well. EAT.