Taiwanese Cold Noodles

Summer is here, and that means my cold noodle cravings are at an all-time high. I never tried to make Taiwanese cold noodles because I don't really know what's in the all-important sauce that makes this dish work. Mom told me that it's sesame paste based, so I decided that I can improvise around that one known sauce ingredient.

First, I prepped all the thinly sliced toppings that go with the noodle:

Toppings

-Scrambled Egg

-Ham (you can use shredded chicken meat)

-Grated Carrots

-Boiled and Chilled Bean Sprouts

-Grated Cucumbers

Next, I boiled some Chinese white flour noodles with a sprinkle of salt and a few drops of sesame oil. I don't know the exact type that should be used, but it's definitely not egg noodles. These noodles need to have an elastic pull when they're done. I rinsed the noodles in cold water and cooled them down in a bowl with ice water on the outside.

Now comes the tricky part: the sesame sauce.

Sauce Ingredients

-Garlic

-Sesame Oil

-Sesame Paste

-Chili Paste

-Rice Wine

-White Rice Vinegar

-Hot Water

-Sugar

Sesame Sauce

I browned some garlic in a sauce pot with some sesame oil on low heat. Then I added 3 big spoonfuls of sesame paste (found in local Chinese market) and thinned it out with some Chinese rice wine while stirring the sauce non-stop. I added one spoonful of Guilin chili paste (use whatever Chinese chili paste you want), some soy sauce, a tiny bit of rice vinegar, some hot water, and a couple small spoonfuls of sugar. When I felt like I had mixed the ingredients well and the sauce as a whole had ample time to bathe in low heat, I put the sauce pot in a larger pot with ice water, and continued to stir vigorously. When it cooled down, tossed the noodles, toppings, and sauce together in a large bowl.

***You MUST cook and chill the sauce thoroughly, or else the sauce will go bad easily.***

***The noodles and toppings should also be properly cooled at approximately the same temperature as the sauce before mixing them together.***

Taiwanese Cold Noodles