Chongqing Noodles: One Bite, and Your Stomach Feels at Home in Chongqing!

Last time I introduced Chongqing, I mentioned Chongqing Noodles. Now, let me teach you how to make a genuine bowl of Chongqing Noodles!

Making this dish is indeed not simple. You need to prepare the broth, make the chili oil, cook the minced pork, stew the peas, and even make your own soy sauce. Once all these preparations are done, boiling the noodles is the easiest step.

But with a puff of hot steam and a slurp of the noodles, their chewy texture, wrapped in chili oil, stimulates your taste buds. The savory minced pork and tender peas make all the effort worthwhile.

More addictive than the coolness of summer is the fiery vitality of life.

Ingredients:

Pork bones / Pork neck bones / Pork skin / Ground pork / White peas
Spices: Star anise / Lemongrass / Bay leaves / Fennel seeds / Galangal / Black cardamom / Cassia bark / Fennel seeds / Cloves / Lithospermum / Angelica / Nardostachys / Amomum / Sichuan peppercorn / Dried chili peppers

Preparation:

Spice Bag:

1 piece of cassia bark, 1 star anise, 1 black cardamom, 5 fennel seeds, 5 bay leaves, all wrapped in cheesecloth and tied up.

Broth:

Add pork bones and pork skin to a cold water pot to remove blood, then rinse and place in a fresh pot of water. Add ginger slices, Shaoxing wine, and the spice bag. Simmer for 3-4 hours.

Stewed Peas:

Soak white peas in water with edible alkali overnight. Rinse and place in a pot, add broth and a pinch of salt, and simmer for an hour until soft.

Homemade Soy Sauce:

90g light soy sauce, 10g dark soy sauce, 10g brown sugar, all combined in a pot and simmered for about 8 minutes.

Chili Oil:

1. 8:2 ratio of dried chili peppers (remove seeds) to dried chili peppers, cut open and stir-fry in oil until fragrant, then grind into a powder.
2. Soak spices (star anise, lemongrass, bay leaves, fennel seeds, galangal, black cardamom, cassia bark, cloves, lithospermum, angelica, nardostachys, amomum, Sichuan peppercorn) in water for half an hour, drain thoroughly.
3. Stir-fry the dry spices and chili powder together without oil. Add rapeseed oil heated to 180°C, stir to combine, and cook until the oil is bright red. (The ratio of chili powder to oil is about 1:3).

Minced Pork Topping:

Heat oil in a pan, add ground pork, Pixian bean paste, sweet bean sauce, homemade soy sauce, pepper, and salt. Stir-fry until well mixed.

Cooking the Noodles:

1. Prepare a bowl of ginger-garlic water: 8g garlic, 2g ginger, mixed with 20g of cool boiled water.
2. In a serving bowl, add 1 scoop of pickled mustard tuber, 1 scoop of crushed peanuts, 2 scoops of ginger-garlic water, 1 scoop of sesame paste, 1.5 scoops of homemade soy sauce, 1 scoop of vinegar, 1 scoop of lard, 2 scoops of chili oil, a pinch of Sichuan peppercorn powder, appropriate amount of white sesame seeds and salt, and finally pour in a large scoop of broth and mix well.

3. Boil a pot of water, add alkaline noodles when boiling, cook until they float, add a bit of cold water, and boil again. Scoop out the noodles. (You can also add some greens to cook together).