Eat. More. Art.
A palette of colors, flavors, textures, crunchiness, and taste, called Hakka Noodles. These noodles are simple, yet best I’ve ever had. The recipe courtesy is courtesy Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, slightly modified to suit my taste, made in quick 20 minutes.
Recipe:
Noodles – 3 small packets. (see note below*)
Onion – 1 – ½ medium, cut into stripes
Scallion – 3, chop and keep the greens and the whites separately
Red bell pepper – ½, cut in stripes
Green bell pepper – ½, cut in stripes
Yellow bell pepper – ½, cut in stripes
Moong bean sprouts – 1 ½ cup (looks like these)
Cabbage – 2 cups, shredded
Carrot – 2, julienned
Soya Sauce – 2-3 teaspoons
Vinegar – 2 tablespoons
Salt – to taste
Black pepper powder – 1 teaspoon, or to taste
Oil – 2 tablespoons
Ajinomoto (optional) – 1 teaspoon
- Heat Water for boiling noodles. Add salt, 1 teaspoon of oil. Add noodles when water comes to a boiling point. Boil until al dente (not completely cooked). Once done, turn off the heat, transfer immediately into a vessel with ice cold water. This will help remove the extra starch, avoid the noodles from becoming sticky, as well as stop the noodles from further cooking.
- While the noodles are being boiled, cut and chop all the vegetables, as mentioned. In Chinese cooking, the precise cutting and chopping of the vegetables take precedence.
- Hakka noodles are to be prepared on very high heat. Heat a wok/pan, add 1 ½ tablespoon of oil. After it’s hot enough, add sliced onion, carrots, cabbage, scallion whites, ajinomoto. Toss it. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Make sure in the end, the veggies do maintain it’s crunchiness.
- After about 3 minutes, add green, red, yellow capsicum, soya sauce, salt, black pepper. Toss again. Let it cook for another couple of minutes.
- Add the noodles, bean sprouts and vinegar. Cook for a couple of minutes. Finish it with sprinkling the spring onion greens.
Enjoy!
* Note:
Noodles: I prefer using either Top Ramen or Ching’s Secret (from Indian store) brand of noodles for making this dish. Though the recipe does not call for using the flavor packet that comes with the noodles, just would like to mention that in case you are a vegetarian and using Top Ramen noodles, don’t use the flavor packet that comes with it, as the flavor packet in the noodles made outside of India may contain ingredients that are not vegetarian.
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