While most noodle dishes – like udon, pho and ramen – have had a gradual rise in popularity in the UK, biang biang noodles exploded onto the scene after the success of Xi’an Famous Foods in New York. This regional Chinese noodle dish is known in China as much for its name as for its taste and flavour – and for good reason, as you can read about below.
Where are biang biang noodles from?
Biang biang noodles come from Shaanxi, a northern Chinese province home to beautiful mountains, the terracotta warriors and the ancient city of Xi’an. The extra ‘a’ in Shaanxi is to distinguish it from its nearly identically named neighbour, Shanxi. Northern Chinese provinces like Shaanxi historically favoured flour over rice, and have lots of popular wheat dishes like biang biang noodles and roujiamo.
What is the Chinese character for biang biang noodles?
In China, the character for the ‘biang’ in ‘biang biang’ noodles (𰻞) is almost more famous than the dish itself! Although Chinese speakers are no stranger to pretty complicated characters, ‘biang’ really takes the cake. It’s so complicated that until 2020 it couldn’t be typed; there was simply no unicode provision for it. Instead, Chinese speakers would often have to write it using pinyin, as shown here on a popular online Chinese encyclopedia. Walking around cities and towns in Shaanxi, like Xi’an, you can see the fascinatingly complex character proudly displayed on shopfronts selling the noodles.
What are biang biang noodles served with?
Biang biang noodles’ renown outside of China is largely thanks to a New York institution called Xi’an Famous Foods. Founded by father and son team David Shi and Jason Wang, both from Xi’an, their biang biang noodles are served with tender cumin lamb. However, within Shaanxi the most popular way of serving biang biang noodles is actually much more simple. Known as ‘oil splash noodles’ (油泼面), this is a simple and quick way to serve your homemade noodles by heating up oil and pouring it over aromatics like chilli powder and spring onions. The infused oil is then mixed into the noodles with black vinegar and light soy sauce.
How to make biang biang noodles
Serves 2-3
Metric
Imperial
Noodles
- 140g of water
- 300g of 00 flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
Aromatics, per person (optional)
- 1 tbsp of vegetable oil
- chilli powder, to taste
- 1/2 spring onion, finely chopped
- salt, to taste, or a pinch of Chinese stock powder
- 1/2 tbsp of light soy sauce
- 1/2 tbsp of Chinkiang black vinegar
Mix together the salt, flour and water in a stand mixer or by hand until it comes together into a rough ball
Cover and let rest 20 minutes
Mix again for about 5 more minutes, or until smooth
Cover and let rest for 20 minutes again
Line a baking tray with parchment
Divide into six equal pieces balls, then roll out each one into a flat oblong
Coat each piece of dough in oil, then transfer to the oven tray, making sure that they’re not touching
Wrap the tray in cling film, and let the dough rest overnight
When ready to serve, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil
Take one of the pieces of dough, and use a chopstick to indent the dough all the way across the middle, lengthwise, so you have two skinnier noodles marked out on either side of the indent
Pick up the noodle by the short ends, and gently pull it out. The noodle will slowly stretch. Begin to slap the noodle against the counter as you pull
Stretch until you have a long, thin noodle, then use the indent you made earlier to separate it in half
Set aside, then repeat with the remaining noodles
Boil the noodles for two minutes, two pieces at a time, or until tender. Once each noodle is tender, remove from the water with chopsticks or tongs and transfer to a bowl
Serve with toppings of your choice, or, to make the oil splash noodles, add the chilli powder, spring onions and salt to the centre of a serving of noodles. Heat up the oil until shimmering, then carefully pour directly over the aromatics. Add soy sauce and vinegar, stir well and enjoy
How to store biang biang noodles
Leftover raw noodle dough will keep in the fridge, covered for a few days. It will relax even more over time, so take care to keep the pieces well spaced or they might touch and stick together. Cooked noodles will keep in the fridge, covered, for about three days. They can be rewarmed in water, or served cold in a noodle salad.
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