Hakka Noodles
These noodles known as Hakka Noodles, are the easiest weeknight dinner options. Anytime, we dine out at Indo-Chinese food place, we hardly skip on ordering hakka noodles. They are a must. I will share why that name and what is the craze behind these flavorful yet simple noodles.
Indian Chinese food is adaptation of Chinese flavors and cooking techniques but suitable to Indian tastes. Originally, Indian Chinese cooking became famous or developed when Chinese immigrants moved to Calcutta now known as Kolkata in 18th century on the east coast to work in the city’s tanneries and other areas. Chinese cuisine is very popular within Indian communities. It is different from the authentic Chinese dishes and often influenced by Indian flavors.
There is still a small tight knit community in the Kolkata city with China town neighborhood with their places of worship and gatherings and selling Chinese delicacies.
If you are interested in learning more about the history of Indian Chinese Food then I would recommend this article. It is interesting to know how one culture can influence others through food and immigration, creates it own genre of foods with a wonderful result. Without further ado, try it for yourself with this recipe. I usually have most of them in my kitchen and I am sure you do too.
Hakka cuisine can be described as simple but tasty and flavorful. It is pragmatic and cooked with sparse ingredients. Hakka cuisine is an adaptation of Hakka dishes into Desi flavors. The Chinese immigrants who are known to migrate to South Asian countries brought their collective memory around food and adapted to the taste and likes of the country where they settled. These migrants were believed to be from the Hakka origin.
Indo-Chinese cuisine is one of the most popular cuisines in not only India but few other South Asian countries too and wherever Indians have settles abroad. If you love Chinese food and Indian food, then Indo-Chinese food is what you would love to try, even though there is very little Chinese about it.
The testament of Indo-chinese cuisine lies in the dishes like chili paneer. Paneer is very popular cheese from South Asian countries having no significance in Chinese cuisine. With adaptation of different flavors, Schezwan sauce known to be spicy, tangy and flavorful has nothing to do with the sichaun peppers or the region.
Once you try Indo-chinese food, you will understand the hankering that we have after the familiar taste.
If you want to get a taste of Indian Chinese food and do not know where to start, I will highly suggest try Chili paneer, Gobhi (Cauliflower Manchurian), Vegetarian Manchurian, Hakka noodles, Schezwan Fried rice etc to start with. You will never go wrong with any of these dishes. For meat eaters, there are plenty of options too. There are few more new dishes inspired by this cuisine like Chinese bhel, crispy noodles with similar flavors of soy sauce, chili paste. Schezwan dosa, is another popular one with similar flavors and noodles stuffed inside the dosa instead of potato mix.
Preparation of Hakka Noodles
My recipe is timeless and prepared with same ingredients since I learnt to make them. But you can always adapt a recipe and add few more things in dish to make it yours. I always encourage people to do so.
The noodles we use for this recipe are thin wheat noodles like spaghetti. Make sure, that you cook the noodles al dente to have the best experience. It can get mushy if you end up overcooking the noodles. The noodles are washed under cold water and then I add few drops of oil to coat and keep them separated. At times, I have also added ice cubes to stop them from cooking further once I removed them in colander. If the noodles get mushy, you will have to start over. So, cook as per package instruction.
The big flavor for this dish comes from the use of ‘Wok’ as it gives it the smoky flavor that makes this dish so lovable.
Use a wok if you have one, but many a times I have used regular pans too. It works our fine. You will just not have that smoky flavor. Recently, I vacationed in Cape Cod and one of the days, I made these noodles from packs of soya sauce, hot sauce that I had hoarded, I had packed noodles and vegetables in the bag too. It was a road trip and it was possible to do so. I just didn’t have a wok, but they will still delicious.
The recipe calls for cabbage of any color green or purple, bell peppers, carrots, and onions. I love to add lots of garlic. And, it is garnished with scallions. Pair it with this vegetarian manchurian recipe for a bigger coma induced feast.
Hakka Noodles
Ingredients
- 1 pack of wheat noodles I use Ching’s brand 150 grms
- 2 tsp oil
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp red chili sauce
- 2 cups of finely julienned vegetables carrots cabbage, bell peppers, onions
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
- ½ tsp sugar or honey
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- Salt taste
- 4 scallions finely chopped green and whites separated
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil, add the noodles and cook them for approximately 3 minutes or until they are al dente or 80 % cooked. Drain the noodles in a colander, wash them under running cold water to avoid from cooking them further with residual heat. It also eliminates excessive starch. Toss the noodles with 2 tsp oil.
- Take a wok on medium to high heat. Once the wok is hot, add the oil, immediately followed by grated garlic, and followed by onions, bell peppers, carrots. Cook them evenly and add in the finely shredded cabbage too. Sauté everything for couple of minutes, we want to keep crunch in the vegetables.
- Add in the sauces along with black pepper, sugar, salt. Stir everything to combine.
- Immediately add the noodles and stir fry until everything is mixed well. Cook no longer than a minute. Garnish with green scallions.
Notes
XO, Devangi