- How I Feel About This Chong Qing Noodles
- Story Behind Chong Qing Noodles
- Original Name
- Cooking Tips
- Cooking Time
- Ingredients to Make Chong Qing Noodles
- Food
- Seasonings
- How to Make Chong Qing Noodles
- Preparation
- Cooking
How I Feel About This Chong Qing Noodles
Chongqing noodles are a perfect representation of Szechuan / Sichuan cuisine, offering a bold combination of spicy, fragrant, and slightly numbing flavors. It’s the quintessential Sichuan taste, and if you’re new to Chinese spicy food, this dish is a great starting point. For me, it’s one of my favorite Chinese noodles from Sichuan.
This dish also reminds me of my own journey into the world of spicy flavors. Growing up in a Shanghainese household, we didn’t cook spicy food at home—my mother didn’t eat anything spicy at all. It wasn’t until college, when one of my roommates from Kunming (another city known for its love of spice) brought a large jar of spicy oil chicken to our dorm, that I was introduced to the wonders of spicy food. That experience opened the door to a whole new world of flavors. Since then, I’ve explored all kinds of dishes from Sichuan province, and Sichuan cuisine has held the top spot in my heart ever since.
Story Behind Chong Qing Noodles
Chong Qing Noodles is a type of noodle dish from Sichuan cuisine and is one of the four major specialties of Chongqing. Originating in the central urban area of Chongqing Municipality, it is a staple food in the region and a traditional snack of the Han ethnic group.
Chong Qing Noodles is a type of soup noodle characterized by its numbing and spicy flavor. In a narrow sense, “Xiaomian”(noodles in English) refers to plain, spicy noodles, and it is especially popular as a breakfast option. Chong Qing Noodles is the simplest of all Chongqing noodle dishes.
There are two types of alkaline noodles used to make Chong Qing Noodles. The first is freshly made noodles with high water content, known locally as “shui mian” or “shui yezi mian.” These noodles allow for flexible adjustments to the chewiness during cooking but cannot be stored for long periods. The second type is dried noodles, commonly referred to as “gan mian.” With less moisture, these noodles are suitable for long-term storage but do not allow for texture adjustments during cooking and have a noticeable difference in taste compared to fresh noodles.
For commercial Chong Qing Noodles sellers, fresh noodles are typically used due to high demand. In home cooking, dried noodles are more commonly used. We use fresh noodles in this recipe.
Oil chili is considered the “soul” of Chong Qing Noodles. To make it, sun-dried chili peppers are first stir-fried in a pan, while in another pot, vegetable oil or salad oil is “jian you” (a process where the oil is cooked until done). Once the chili peppers turn bright red, move the wok and crush the chili peppers. Then mix the cooked oil with the crushed chili peppers in a 1:1 ratio by volume. We use premade chili oil for this recipe and I picked one of the most famous Sichuan chili seasoning brand.
Original Name
- Translated English Name: Chong Qing Noodles
- Original Chinese Pronunciation: Chong Qing Xiao Mian 重庆小面
Note: You may use the Chinese name to order in China because the translated English name of the dishes might be different in every restaurant.
Cooking Tips
- Reduce or increase the chili oil based on your taste
- You need to make or buy lard in advance. Here is the recipe of pork lard for your reference.
Cooking Time
Prep Time: 5 mins
Cook Time: 5 mins
Total Time:10 mins
Ingredients
Serving: 1
Food
Noodles — 150g/5.3oz
Choy Sum — 100g/3.5oz
Scallion — 3 stalks
Ginger — 1 piece
Garlic — 1 clove
Hot Water/Broth — 1 cup
Opinional:
Topping from Dan Dan Noodles
Seasonings
Chili Oil — 2 tbsp
Ground Sichuan Pepper — 1 tsp
Soy Sauce — 1 tbsp
Pork Lard/Cooked Vegetable Oil — 1 tsp
Salt — 1 tsp
How to Cook Chong Qing Noodles
Preparation
1. Cut scallion, ginger and garlic
2. Place salt, light soy sauce, ginger, garlic, ground Sichuan pepper, chili oil, and lard (or cooked vegetable oil) in a large bowl and set aside.
Cooking
1. Add boiling water or broth to the bowl.
2. Bring water to a boil in a pot and cook the noodles and choy sum. Fresh noodles should be boiled for 2-3 minutes, while dried noodles should be cooked for 5-8 minutes.
3. Spread scallion on the top. If you have the topping from Dan Dan Noodles, you may add them. Here you go. The best tasty Chong Qing noodle at home. No need to go this far for the dish any more.
