中文：鸡汤小面

The chicken noodle soup I am talking about is most likely completely different from what you are thinking about. Our chicken noodle soup is made with long thin noodle, chicken stock, and a variety of toppings and seasonings. What is in common with American chicken noodle soup is that it is also our comfort food.

I use egg and water to make noodle dough which can make noodle more elastic and al dente.

Ingredients for noodle dough：

1 cup of bread flour
1/4 cup liquid: half egg + half water
a pinch of salt

Seasonings and toppings：

Chicken stock (either homemade or store bought one is fine)
Sichuan style pickled vegetable (available in Asian grocery store)
Sichuan style chili sauce (also available in Asian grocery store but I prefer to use homemade one )
smashed garlic
Sichuan peppercorn oil (available in Asian grocery store)
sesame oil
soy sauce
sugar
salt
chopped green onion
chopped cilantro
fried soy beans
dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Directions:

Combine flour, salt, water and egg in a medium bowl, knead until a smooth dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour.

Run the dough through kitchen aid （AMAZON link) pasta roller (AMAZON link) several times.

Set the thickness to 4 and run the dough for one last time.

While making the noodle dough, heat a large pot with water over high heat. bring it to boil.

Use the pasta cutter to make long thin noodle.

Tadah! Freshly homemade noodle!

Spread them out a little bit.

Cook the noodle in boiling water for about 40 to 50 seconds, drain well and place the noodle into soup bowls. Add chicken stock, pickled vegetable, chili sauce, garlic, Sichuan peppercorn oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, salt; and then top with green onion, cilantro, soy beans and peanuts.

Isn't it beautiful?

Time to enjoy! O(∩_∩)O~

中文菜谱: 菠菜猫耳朵面

There is about 1/3 bunch spinach left in the refrigerator. It is not enough to do any stir frying, so I make some spinch cavatelli noodles out of it.

As a matter of fact, in Chinese there is another cute interesting name for noodles in this shape: cat’s ears. Those pointed tips do look like cat’s ears.

Ingredients:

1/3 bunch spinach
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 cup water
boiling water and a pinch of salt (for blanching spinach)

Directions：

Fill a large bowl with water and ice.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a pinch of salt and spinach. Get the spinach out as soon as the color turns dark green, and shock it with iced water.

Drain the spinach. Place it to vitamix (from amazon) container; add water and blender until smooth; the smoother the better.

Add flour, salt, spinach mixture and oil to a KitchenAid mixing bowl (from amazon).

Turn on stand mixer, and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Place dough on a board dusted with flour; shape it into a ball; covered and let it rest for 20 to 30 minutes.

With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/4 inch in height. Cut it into thumb nail sized squares.

Divide them and dust with flour again.

On a gnocchi paddle (from amazon), push down those tiny dough squares and push forward at the same time. You will get those little cute cat ears with marks.

Dust with flour so that they won’t stick together.

Every time I make them, that sensational scene from Godfather comes to my mind. Vincent Mancini and Mary Corleone were making gnocchi.

It is really nice to cook and enjoy a lovely dinner with your loved one, isn’t it?

Ok, let’s get back to our cat ears.

Ingredients:

1 piece pork shoulder, (3 to 5 oz) , thinly sliced
a handful of dried chili pepper, cut into halves
1/2 cup dried daikon (available in Asian grocery store), diced
1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper
2 to 3 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine
2 gloves of garlic, peeled and thinly sliced or minced
2 to 3 chicken stock or water
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sugar
salt to taste
2 to 3 tablespoon oil for cooking
water (for boiling noodles)

Directions:

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a pinch of salt and spinach noodles. Cook until they float, about 2 to 3 minutes. Drain them well.

Heat a wok over medium high heat; add oil, garlic and Sichuan pepper corns. When garlic turns color, add pork, salt, black pepper and rice cooking wine. Stir fry over high heat until the pork is golden brown. Add spinach noodles, salt, soy sauce, sugar to taste. Stir in chicken stock, and cook together for another 1 or 2 minutes.

Serve immediately.