Spicy Ginger and Scallion Noodles

Summer is a tricky season for me. At a time when the stores all around the city displaying beautiful summer produce, it’s too damn hot to spend time in the kitchen and cook all of them. The only solution is to make something simple which involves less cooking time. These spicy ginger and scallion noodles are one of my favourite summer recipes. These noodles are so addictive and don’t need much cooking time, you only need 5 to maximum 10 minutes to boil the noodles and heat the oil. 

The key here is the ginger scallion dressing for the noodles. This sauce recipe has the hallmarks of classic Chinese ginger scallion sauce. Add a drizzle of black vinegar for depth and umami and green chillies because I like the heat from chillies. Feel free to add your favourite vegetables or protein.

Spicy Ginger and Scallion Noodles

It wouldn’t hurt to make a double batch of the master sauce in this recipe, you can keep it up to two or three days in a fridge. Use it for noodles, top it on a white rice and fried egg, or smeared it on top of marinated chicken. I manually chopped and minced all the ingredients for this sauce, but feel free to use a food processor if you want.

Ingredients

Ginger and scallion sauce

• 1 cup finely sliced scallion, white and green part
• 2 green chillies, minced
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled ginger
• 1/4 cup light soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar
• 1/4 cup vegetable or other neutral oil
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Ginger and scallion noodles

• 1 pack egg noodles or wheat noodles
• dried chillies
• toasted sesame seeds

Cooking direction

1. Mix together scallion, chillies, ginger, soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar and salt in a bowl. Heat the vegetable oil over medium-high heat until the oil sizzling hot. Carefully pour the hot oil into the scallion mixture, stir well to combine. Let the ginger scallion sauce sit for at least 15 minutes.
2. Cook the egg or wheat noodles as the packaging instruction. Drain the noodles and toss with ginger scallion sauce until the noodle evenly coated. Taste and check for the seasoning, adding more salt or sugar if needed.