Chongqing Noodles

Our resident expert on Asian cuisines, Tony Tan, has the lowdown on this fiery, addictive dish.

Chongqing, the sprawling city along the Yangtze River, until recently part of Sichuan province, is noted for its distinctive and assertive cooking. It’s relatively different to the cuisine of the Sichuan capital, Chengdu – spicier, more pungent and more incendiary than anywhere else in China. Chillies, Sichuan pepper, hot bean paste (doubanjiang), sesame seeds, ginger, garlic and pickles form the backbone of Chongqing’s distinctive style, creating dishes of great complexity.

One of the most famous dishes from this city is Chongqing noodles. A dish that will bring tears of nostalgia to Chongqingren folk, this local specialty is mouth-numbingly spicy and addictive. Simply called xiao mian, meaning small noodles, this street food has an obscure history – some of my friends in Chongqing believe it first appeared in the early 20th century in the city’s humbler neighborhoods. A bowl of noodles built typically on everyday ingredients with some fiery, belly-warming spices, it rapidly became the noodle dish of choice for locals. Since then, this mala – hot and numbing – dish has spread globally.

The simple combination of fine wheat noodles, chicken stock, peanuts, pickled vegetables and seasonings is not tricky to prepare. It’s the seasonings and pickled greens that make the dish – if you’re after authentic flavors that will dazzle diners, it pays to make a trip to Chinatown or to your Asian supermarket for the key ingredients.

Look for dried Sichuan chillies; if you can’t find them, Indian or Thai dried chillies are acceptable. And seek out green Sichuan peppercorns – more fragrant with a lemony scent than the pinkish-red variety and far superior. Look out also for Sichuan preserved vegetable (zha cai), a salty-sour pickle made from a kind of mustard tuber. The other umami-packed salted vegetable is ya cai from Yibin in Sichuan. I use the Suimiyacai brand.