My favorite food to get in NYC? Hand-pulled noodles at Xi’an Famous Foods! These noodles are perfectly chewy and can get mind-numbingly spicy, if that’s your thing! I haven’t been able to go back to the city in the quarantine era, so I thought I might give my own go at these Biang Biang noodles from the Xi’an region of China (where I got to visit back in ‘08!). Fun fact about Xi’an Famous Foods – they’d been operating in Flushing for a while but really got their start after being featured by Anthony Bourdain. They’ve got locations all over NYC now, and with good reason! Have you tried these noodles?
Hand-pulled Noodles
Equipment
- Stand Mixer (optional)
Ingredients
Noodles
- 250 g all-purpose flour
- 125 g water
- 1/4 tsp salt
- vegetable oil, for coating dough
Seasoning
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp scallions, thinly sliced
- 2 tsp minced garlic
- chilli flakes
- chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp ground Sichuan pepper
- 2 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp black rice vinegar
- salt, to taste
Optional
- 1 handful leafy green vegetable, such as spinach or Bok Choy
Instructions
Noodle Dough
- Mix flour, water, and salt by hand or with a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Knead until well combined and smooth. If kneading by hand, you may need to pause for ~15 minutes to allow the gluten to relax before the dough will really come together nice and smooth. The stand mixer should take 5-8 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Knead them each again until smooth balls, and the.n gently roll them into a gherkin shape (like a large grain of rice.)
- Coat each piece of dough with oil and put them on a plate. Cover them with plastic wrap and let them rest for 1 hour. You can also store the dough over night in the fridge at this point, just make sure you allow the dough to come back to room temp before using.
Cook the noodles
- Heat a pot of water. While the water heats up, flatten each dough piece into a rectangle with a rolling pin.
- Once the water is boiling, start pulling. Press a line in the middle of the dough rectangle with a chopstick or pencil. Holding each end of the dough, pull gently until it stretches to your preferred thickness. The noodles will swell up slightly as they cook. Place the noodle back down on the table, and gently tear them apart lengthwise along the line you pressed into the dough, making one big noodle circle.
- Put the noodles in the water about 4 at a time. They only take about 1 minute to cook, so watch them carefully! Once cooked, place them in a serving bowl.
Making the seasoning (You can also use pre-made chilli oil at this point)
- Place the scallions, garlic, chilli flakes and powder, Sichuan pepper, and salt on top of the noodles.
- Heat up the oil, and when it starts to smoke, pour it over the seasoned noodles. Add soy sauce and vinegar, and then stir the noodles to make sure they're evenly coated.
