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Recipe from the (possible) birthplace of the Zhouyi

D

deflatormouse

Guest
...Although obviously not the time period.

I don't eat out much, but one of my favorite places to eat out in New York City is Xi'an Famous Foods, a local fast-food chain with an incredible story and even better eats. The restaurants were founded by an immigrant from Xi'an (the city that currently occupies the approximate site of the Western Zhou kingdom) who prepared his family recipes for sale at a food cart in Flushing, Queens (NYC's largest Chinatown, though it's not the area known as "Chinatown"). He sold out of everything daily. His son went to business school and turned his father's food cart into a brand and franchise.

Being a vegan and gluten-free, my favorite dish on their menu is Liangpi, cold rice noodles. I got addicted enough that I wanted to learn to make this at home, and did, from this recipe:
www.chinasichuanfood.com/liangpi-cold-skin-noodles/

As summer winds to a close, I thought others might enjoy this cold dish. I've avoided my stovetop like the plague; dinner in a blender has been the order of the day these last few months, and I've made a lot of humus and gazpacho. This is a nice one too as only the chili oil requires any cooking, and one batch is enough for several uses. I don't bother making the noodles myself; I use prepackaged rice noodles and soak them in a bowl of water for a couple of hours instead of boiling (anything to avoid cooking in August). For the chili oil, I use organic grapeseed oil. I find the two star anises a little much, one's enough, prefer ground chili to crushed (but I like things spicy), and would recommend adding a couple of teaspoons of cumin as well (The Xi'an Famous Foods version definitely has cumin in it).

You may need a specialty Chinese grocery for some key ingredients, such as Sichuan peppercorns (I prefer to ground those too, with extra for serving).
 

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