Vegetarian Schezwuan Hakka Noodles
Vegetarian Hakka Noodles is a favorite indian-chinese dish for any Indian. Long before I came to the US and was exposed to a variety of pasta, hakka noodles were the only pasta I had ever seen, cooked and relished! My mom had taken indian-chinese cooking classes and she had really mastered the art of making delicious hakka noodles and veg manchurian, which me and my brother were really thankful for:) Thanks to her, I mastered the skill too, and as I grew older and started experimenting with sauces and spices myself, I started admiring asian sauces way more than before! One of our all-time favorites is the Schezwuan sauce; I guess I was more fascinated by the way this word was spelt and pronounced; some call it "schezwan", "schezwuan", or "szechuan" (the last one is the correct spelling, but it would be so much easier if they'd make it spell the same way its pronounced!) Anyways, grammar apart, the kick that this spicy and little sweet sauce generates to your food is amazing, and you can add it to your noodles or fried rice to take your cooking to the next level. So here's my recipe of Vegetarian Schezwuan Hakka Noodles. Mixed with julienned veggies and spiced with garlic, ginger, sesame, peanuts, sherry and chilli, this dish of noodles is sure to set you on fire!!Ready-to-use schezwhuan sauce packets are available in all grocery stores in the asian foods section. I have used it before and though its good, there's nothing like making your own fresh sauce, and as this one is really simple, I've added the recipe below. Sherry adds a nice flavor to the schezwuan sauce, but if you don't have it, don't worry; you can omit it without compromising much. And try using fresh ginger and garlic instead of the ready-made paste, because none of these can come close to the taste of fresh ginger. You can substitute red chilli powder for cayenne pepper.
You can even add some eggs to the noodles, and feel free to add more veggies too to suit your taste. The sauce can be made 2-3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. This plate is on its way to grace the AWED-Chinese Cuisine event over at the Culinary Bazaar!
Ingredients
For Schezwuan Sauce
6 garlic cloves - minced
1/4 cup fresh ginger - peeled and chopped
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry
1/4 cup sherry vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 tspn hot chili oil (just warm some oil and add red pepper flakes or chopped green chillies to it and leave so for 3-4 hours)
2 tbsp dark sesame oil
1/2 tspn freshly ground black pepper
1/8 tspn ground cayenne pepper
For Noodles
1 pound Asian Hakka noodles
1 red bell pepper thinlu sliced
4 scallions - sliced diagonally (white and green parts)
1/2 cup red onion - thinly sliced
1/4 cup spring onions - just the greens
2 sp salt (or adjust to taste)
2 tbsp soy sauce
Making the Sauce
Method
Add the garlic and ginger in a food processor; Add the vegetable oil, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce, sherry, vinegar, honey, chili oil, sesame oil, and ground peppers. Puree the sauce to make a smooth paste.
Making the Noodles
Add a splash of oil to a large pot of boiling salted water and cook the noodles as directed on the package. Drain the pasta in a colander, place it in a large bowl, and while still warm, toss with i tbsp oil so that the noodles don't stick to one another.
Now take a wok, add 4 tbsp oil, and saute the chopped onions and bell peppers till they become soft and glazed. Add the scallions and toss well. Add salt and 5-6 tbsp soy sauce (adjust to your taste), then add the prepared schezwuan sauce and turn off the heat. Gently pour the sauce over the noodles while still hot. Garnish with some chopped spring onion greens and serve hot!
Veg Hakka Noodles (Schezwuan) are a delicious Indian-Chinese Meal cooked right at home! To compliment these noodles, try some of the recipes below:
Veg Hot and Sour Soup
Dry Gobi Manchurian
Vegetable Fried Rice
Veg Manchurian Gravy
Spicy Chilli Paneer
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62 comments :
Mansi this is a lovely recipe from you again...Will try this soon!!
Mansi, I like the idea of adding tahini to the sauce. Never tried it. Thanks.
A winner recipe mansi! and that presentation looks so professional!:)
~Sarah C
Oh i would love to have those noodles.
One of my favourite dish.
Oh Mansi what a fabulous recipe - I can just see me licking my lips after eating this pleasurable noodles :D
Rosie x
i haven't met anyone who doesn't love these! I never knew to add tahini... that's really interesting.
Lovely noodles! Love the presentation. Mmm. so mouth-watering.
Whoa! Tahini in szechuan sauce? Never tried that. Now you've gotten me hooked :)
Mansi noodles very tempting,I should try making sauces at home.Your recipe for schezwan sauce is very delicious.
Thanks for the compliments folks! The tahini idea came from a recipe I saw on FN with barefoot Contessa:) and it tasted great, so this sauce recipe is for keeps!
Mansi I love the sauce and all the ingredients you have used for it. I can really taste it. I think I need to make this soon!
that's the best-looking noodle plate I've seen in some years now! I really like the sauce recipe; the last I had some fabulous hakka noodles were at a restaurant in NJ, can't remember the name now...
surely gotta try this!:) thanks for sharing!
-Anita
this dish looks wonderful - will be on my to do list!
but I have to ask - these noodles look like what we call hokkien noodles - do you know if this is another name for the hakka noodles?
Hi Johanna - Hokkien noodles are actually thicker fried noodles, like chowmein, and are mostly seen in Kuala Lumpur. Hakka noodles, though look similar, originate from the Hakka region of Malaysia, and are a little thinner and softer than hokkien noodles when cooked...
hope this helps!:)
Great recipe!
Love the Indo-Chinese food :). These noodles look so yummy, and i love the idea of using Tahini here.
That sauce looks to die for! Anything with 6 cloves of garlic is alright in my book! :)
Looks just perfect. Wonderful recipe!
This is another of my daughter's faves. I make it a bit differently and use sesame seeds instead of the tahini. Will try this version next time definitely. Mansi.
Just discovered your world of food...Lovely noodles...ur other recipes too are interesting. Thanks
Just discovered your world of food...Lovely noodles...ur other recipes too are interesting. Thanks
A fav here too Mansi, mom makes a diff version of the sauce though. This is an interesting recipe, thanks for sharing it :)
Nice recipe mansi. Love your presentation. Very neat and professional.
Glad to see some new faces here! Vandana, LyB- welcome to my blog, and thanks for taking time to comment:)
thanks to all the others too; looks like we could form a chinese food fan club right here!:)
Mansi, adding Peanut butter to sauce is a new idea. I can imagine the flavor that must have added, Yummy!
I'm a big fan of Hakka cuisine...bring on the heat!
mansi, thanks for leaving a comment in my blog. you have a wonderful blog and amazing stories!
that looks delicious. i make hakka noodles quite often too. its the only saving grace for a dinner for one on most weeknights :)
Thanks for sharinga wonderful recipe..am going to try this..never tried making sauces at home..
The noodles look so good! And after the sauce is on hand, a quick and tasty meal; who could ask for more?
I love noodles..but I never tried making sauce at home. I will try this soon. I love the photo
tahini to sauce... brillient idea mansi :)
Have to try this..Never made sauce at home thanks for the recipe this will be on my list next week . And you do take lovely pictures.
Mansiiiiiiiiii! This is absolutely awesome!! Have never made schezwan sauce at home, but will definitely try your version!
Hi, noodles looks yo yummy, veri nice recipe. thanxxx for sharin'.
ekdum takatak lagey che yaar :)
This looks amazing!! brilliant recipe and absolutely fantastic photo! loved your presentation:)
-Sheena
thanks for the info on the hakka noodles - I saw them in a cookbook for the first time today - am sure I will see them everywhere now!
I love schzeuan noodles! Looks good.
Wow, those noodles look so delicious! Everyone in my house love noodles and i will try your version of Hakka noodles, thnx for sharing Mansi!
'
www.zaiqa.net
Where do you buy the Hakka Noodles? I used to buy in the Indian stores but stopped since it would always be too old and I had to throw them away.
Gowri - I mostly buy them in the indian store (luckily, they have fresh goods:)), but you'll also get them at any asian market, like Ranch 99; in fact, they ahve a bigger variety:)
This noodles are so good looking!!! I bet my daughter would eat them in a glimpse!!!! :D
I'd never seen noodles in Indian cuisine before...or I just misattributed it to being only a Chinese thing. Certainly looks tasty!
Noodles looks yum ! Nicely presented.
Looks like a tasty recipe! One note of caution, however, crossing chopsticks as in the photo is a cultural no-no. They should be parallel. Same goes for standing them in a bowl of food.
hey George, thanks for the tip man! had no idea whatsoever, but surely didn't mean to offend any cultures:) glad you liked the recipe!:)
Mansi
I liked all the recipes in your blog.I treid the hakka noddle recipe lot of times before but every noodles just stick to each other no matter.The instructions on packet says if you put oil it does not happen.But It never worked.In restaurants I see people toss the noodles up and down on a high.I thought that keeps the noodles to not stick to each other.Any comments on this
tanu - add some salt and 1 tbsp oil while boiling the noodles or pasta. Also, stir occasionally to avoid them clumping together. but as soon as you've finished boiling them, invert the noodles in a colander(channi) and wash under cold running tap water. Then add 2 tbsp olive oil and toss around with fork to prevent noodles from sticking to each other....this has always worked for me, but remember that some noodles are thinner than others, and may stick just a little..however, washing in cold water and adding oil later does seem to keep them separate..hope this helps:)
let me know if it works for you!
Hi Mansi,
The noodles look yummy!!! Love your recipes. Just the other day I made the tandoori paneer tikka and everyone absolutely loved it. Thanks to your wonderful recipe. My family wanted me to make it again the next day :)
Hey, I live in the Bay area too, and was wondering which store do you buy the hakka noodles from. Also, do you know the scheuzan sauce available in stores is completely vegetarian?
Thanks a bunch,
Sonal
HI sonal! I'm so glad you all liked the paneer tikka! that is one of my most successful experiments:)
as for Hakka noodles, I buy it from indian stores like India Cash and Carry and Namaste Plaza. They get them from india, so its pretty good, just like the one you get back in India:)
The schezwuan sauce is generally vegetarian, at least the one you get in trader joe's and safeway. But its better to read the ingredients as they traditionally, they have fish sauce in it!
hope this helps!
Thank you, Mansi. That helps.
regards,
sonal
Appreciate the effort you have
put into this. Everything looks so
good. Half a cup of oil seems a bit
much, though. Cheers
thanks for your Anonymous comment! but the recipe is for schezwuan sauce, and you DO NOT have to use up all the sauce in one go! and if you don't like it, you can reduce the oil to 1/4th cup...recipes are only guidelines, it's up to you to choose and make amendments to suit your style of cooking!
Everyone used up every word in the vocabulory to describe this dish that I am left with almost nothing!!! :)
This looks like such a soul food Mansi! Love it and thanks for sending it my way :)
DK
http://culinarybazaar.blogspot.com
Mansi...I haven't cooked one of your recipes as yet!! I'm just so bewildered by your enthusiasm and your professionalism.
This site is simply magnificant, its truly a wonderful site, and just so beautifully done...
So for me, looks like I will be busy with your site for sometime e.g. like trying to recreate some of your wonderful recipes. And a big thank you for giving me the enthusiasm to cook again...
Perth
Western Australia...
Hey Mansi,
Looks awesome and am going to try this.. I couldnt find any sherry vinegar though !! We live in Denver and was wondering if you would recommend a store or a substitute to the Sherry Vinegar !!
Thanks a bunch !
Mala
Hi Mala - I would say it would not be a great compromise if you eliminated the cherry vinegar from the recipe; but you can use regular white-wine vinegar instead. Just use it sparingly, as it can be really acidic and sour!
but if you can't find any, don't worry..all the other ingredients will make up for the taste:)
What a wonderful recipe !! I really want to make this myself. Could you please tell me if I could use white vinegar instead of sherry vinegar? Is there any other non-alcoholic alternative to sherry? Also what is the serving size of your recipe? Thanks for such a mouth-watering post.
Rgds,
Sandhya
Hi there - you can omit the sherry altogether, that's fine, no need to add Vinegar.
the serving size for this recipe is approx 5 adult helpings.
Hi Mansi,
It appears that you live in the bay area. Lately, Indian stores have stopped carrying hakka noodles. What do you use as a substitute. Thanks.
Hi Anonymous - I alwasy get chinese veg or egg hakka noodles from Indian stores. I think its a chinese brnad "Ming noodles". If you are in the bay area, Cash & Carry has them most of the times.
If not, you can go to Ranch 99, and get hakka noodles from there.
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