Spicy Sesame Paste Noodles
Adapted by Kyle Libramonte
Prep Time: 10 Min • Cook Time: 20 Min
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 TBSP Chinese Sesame Paste — stir the jar down to the bottom, the oil separates hard
- 2 TBSP Smooth Peanut Butter
- 2 TBSP Light Soy Sauce
- 2-4 TSP Rice Vinegar — start low, adjust at the end
- 2 TBSP Lard or Oil — lard is worth it here
- 2 TSP Sugar — adjust depending on how salty your braised meat liquid is
- 1/2 Cup Braised Meat Sauce or Water, per serving (1 cup total)
- 2 Scallions (chopped, green parts only)
- 4-6 TBSP Chili Oil — you can make your own or use the delicious Lao Gan Ma
- 8 oz Fresh Wheat Noodles
- 2 Quarts Water, for boiling
Instructions
- Get the Water Going Before Anything Else: Fill the Flami Pot about two-thirds with water and set it over medium heat to come up to a boil. This takes the longest of anything here, so start it first and build the sauce while it works. Cover it to speed things along.
- Whisk the Sauce While the Water Heats: In a bowl, whisk the sesame paste, peanut butter, soy sauce, rice vinegar, lard, and sugar together first, without any liquid. It'll look broken and pasty for a second — keep going until it tightens into one glossy mass. Getting the fats and pastes married before you thin them is what keeps the finished sauce from splitting on the plate.
- Thin It With the Braising Liquid, Then Taste: Add the braised meat liquid in three or four additions, whisking smooth after each one, until the sauce pours in a thick ribbon off the whisk. Now taste it and adjust — this is the only step that actually matters. Braising liquids vary wildly in salt, so you may want another teaspoon of vinegar for lift, more sugar for balance, or a splash more liquid if it's clinging instead of flowing.
- Set Up Your Bowls Before the Noodles Go In: Chop the scallion greens and spoon 2-3 TBSP of chili oil into the bottom of each of the two bowls. Fresh wheat noodles cook in the time it takes to read this step, so there's no window to prep afterward. Chili oil on the bottom means every lift from the bottom of the bowl brings heat up with it.
- Boil the Noodles: Drop the fresh noodles into the boiling water, stir immediately so they don't clump, and cook 2-4 minutes according to the package — fresh wheat noodles are fast and go from springy to mushy in about thirty seconds. Drain, and reserve a splash of the noodle water.
- Plate, Ladle, and Toss at the Table: Pile the noodles over the chili oil, ladle a generous amount of sesame sauce over the top, and scatter the scallion greens. If the sauce tightened up while the noodles cooked, loosen it with a tablespoon of that hot noodle water. Toss everything together right before the first bite so the chili oil streaks through instead of sitting underneath.
NOTE:
- Want the sauce thicker and creamier? Add more peanut butter and sesame paste — a teaspoon of each at a time, whisked in at step 2 before you thin it out. Every addition pushes the sauce toward a heavier coat that clings to the noodles instead of pooling at the bottom of the bowl. Just bump the sugar and vinegar up a touch alongside it, since more paste means more richness to cut through.
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