SERVES 2 TO 3 AS A MAIN COURSE, 4 TO 6 AS PART OF A MULTICOURSE MEAL
For our Chinese New Year’s feast in 1988 (the lunar year symbolized by the dragon in Chinese cosmology), our talented bartender-artist, Larry Yung, suspended a writhing, 60-foot paper dragon from our 20-foot ceiling, and I put together a new noodle dish for the menu. It is this one—a tangle of cold thin egg noodles dressed in a light, zippy dressing redolent of chili, lemon, and ginger.
Given the requisite ingredients, this is a dish that can be made in minutes. It will multiply to feed a mob or, if you are celebrating the new year romantically, will feed just you and a friend.
To toast black sesame seeds, heat a dry heavy skillet over moderately-low heat. Add the sesame seeds and toast, tossing occasionally, until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Use your nose as a guide; the color of the seeds won’t change.
DRESSING:
¼ cup Ma-La Oil (page 17)
1 tablespoon China Moon Chili-Lemon Oil (page 12)
1 teaspoon Chinese chili sauce
2½ tablespoons black soy sauce
2 tablespoons juice from China Moon Pickled Ginger (page 8)
1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
2½ tablespoons unseasoned Japanese rice vinegar
2½ tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ pound very thin (1/16 inch) fresh Chinese egg noodles
Grated zest of 1 scrubbed lemon, or more, if needed
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds, toasted
¾ cup thinly sliced green and white scallion rings
Grated red radish, for garnish
Green and white scallion julienne, for garnish
Toasted black sesame seeds, for garnish
1. Combine all of the dressing ingredients, whisking to blend. Set aside, leaving the whisk in the bowl.
2. Fluff the noodles in a colander to separate and untangle the strands. Bring a generous amount of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Add the noodles and swish gently with chopsticks until the noodles are al dente but cooked, about 2 minutes. Drain promptly, plunge briefly into a generous amount of ice water to chill, then drain thoroughly.
3. Re-whisk the dressing to combine. Toss the noodles with just enough of the dressing to moisten them well, using your fingers to coat and separate the strands. Let sit for 10 minutes.
4. Taste the noodles. If they have absorbed the dressing and seem dry, add a bit more dressing and toss again. Add the lemon zest, black sesame seeds, and scallion rings. Toss well to mix. Taste and adjust with more dressing and/or lemon zest if needed. The taste should be bright and sparkly. At this point, the noodles may be sealed and refrigerated for up to a day. (If you are working in advance, you might like to wait until serving to add the scallions so the rings look bright and fresh.) For best flavor, bring to room temperature or serve only slightly chilled.
5. To serve, mound the noodles in a bowl or twirl into individual bowls of contrasting color, garnishing each with a pinch of the grated red radish, a tuft of scallion julienne, and a sprinkling of black sesame seeds.
On a few points of noodle-making and eating, the Chinese and the Italians differ greatly.
Chinese like their noodles slithery, not rough. A meaty sauce, if plopped on top of a well-behaved Chinese noodle, should slip from the noodle, not cling to it. A silken noodle is perfect to a Chinese tongue.
The water for boiling noodles in China is not salted. In the yin-yang world of Chinese eating, noodles remain unseasoned, while the sauces or other foods eaten with them carry the fuller flavors. The noodles themselves, to a Chinese palate, should be deliberately unseasoned to be tasty—tasting of the wheat and the water, and not the salt.
The water used for poaching fresh noodles is not necessarily tossed. It is often drunk in a little bowl alongside the noodles, with a bit of chopped scallion and a drizzle of seasoned oil swirled in.
Finally, al dente is not a high desirable in China. The Chinese love their noodles either soft (boiled) or crisp (fried), with little variation in between.
MENU SUGGESTIONS: These noodles go well with most all of our cold fish, meat, and poultry dishes. On an antipasto plate, I love them with Brined Loin of Pork with Pasilla Pepper Sauce (page 310) and a green salad. Given their light and lemony flavor, they also go well with grilled or roasted chicken.