Shaxian Peanut Sauce Noodles (沙县拌面)
These are a classic - and my personal favorite - at the ever popular chain in China, Shaxian snacks (a.k.a. Shaxian Delicacies). They're rich, saucy, and surprisingly pretty easy as well.
Everywhere in the world has a much beloved fast food chain. If you're in California, it's In-N-Out; in the Philippines, it's probably Jollibee; and in South China, that home of cheap eats and late night drunken college meals is… Shaxian Snacks. For me, it was always kind of hard to separate an overly bibulous night from Shaxian's Fujian-style wontons, their duck legs, and – my personal favorite – the peanut-sauce mixed noodles.
Now, "Shaxian" is named after a place – it's a pretty humble town nestled in mountains of the Fujian province. The chain originally began as a local organization for a loose collection of the town's street vendors, but how that morphed into a multi-billion dollar business is a story for another day. But there is a pretty straight line between the snacks at the chain and some of the classic street foods in the area. There's the wonton-like bianrou (扁肉), the roasted and lightly smoked banya (板鸭), and, of course, those peanut-sauce mixed noodles (飘香拌面/沙县拌面).
So today, we wanted to show you how to make those noodles in the Shaxian street food style. And while I am biased, they are.. aggressively delicious – they're rich, saucy, and perhaps surprisingly easy to boot.. making for what's probably one the highest deliciousness-to-effort ratios of anything we've covered on this channel yet.
Now, there's gunna be three fundamental components to these noodles – seasoned soy sauce, scallion lard, and peanut sauce. So in this recipe, we’ll show you how to make these three components first, then showing you how to assemble the noodles itself.
Just a quick not on quantity: in the below recipe, we'll be making enough of each component for four snack sized bowls of noodles. That said, MAKE MORE. Scale these up. I think the best way to enjoy this would be to make bigger batches and always have them lying around to whip up more noodles.
Peanut Sauce (拌面花生酱):
Peanut oil (花生油), ¼ cup.
All natural peanut butter (原味花生酱), ¼ cup.
Toasted sesame oil, 1 tsp. (Optional, for use with refined peanut oil)
Process:
Heat ¼ cup of peanut oil until faint wisps of smoke are starting to appear, ~200C.
Shut off the heat and add in ¼ cup of all natural peanut butter. Mix well.
Turn the flame to low and cook, stirring constantly, until it reaches a 'peanut butter roux' sort of color.
Notes:
This recipe specifically uses Chinese semi-refined peanut oil.
If using refined peanut oil (commonly found in Western supermarkets), mix in 1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil AFTER your peanut sauce is done frying.
Scallion Lard (葱油)
Lard, 3 tbsp.
Scallion, 10g.
Heat 3 tbsp of lard with 10g of sliced scallion over a medium-low flame.
Stir periodically, cooking until the scallions are brown and crispy - this should take ~10 minutes from the point your lard has melted.
Notes:
If you are vegetarian or if lard is difficult to source, you can substitute with peanut oil.
If you've already made a batch of scallion oil for other recipes (like scallion oil noodles or dim sum items), you can use what you have on hand.
While lard gives the noodles some richness and a nice mouthfeel, it's not mandatory.
Keep an eye on the oil as it cooks, but there's no need to hover over it constantly.
Seasoned Soy Sauce (调味酱油)
Light soy sauce (生抽), 2 tbsp.
Water, 2 tbsp.
Sugar, 2 tsp.
Proces:
Mix 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tbsp water, and 2 tsp sugar in a small saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil over a medium flame.
Remove from heat. The seasoned soy sauce is ready to use.
Notes:
Many Chinese or Asian supermarkets carry pre-made products called 'seasoned soy sauce' or 'seasoned soy sauce for seafood'.
If you're looking for a shortcut, you can use these pre-made products instead of making your own seasoned soy sauce.
Here’s an example of a commercial product.
Shaxian Peanut Noodles (沙县拌面)
For the sauce (3-2-1 ratio):
Peanut sauce, 1 tbsp.
Seasoned soy sauce, 2 tsp.
Scallion lard, 1 tsp.
Water or stock, 2 tsp.
Salt, ⅛ tsp.
MSG (味精), ¼ tsp.
Dried noodles, 60g.
Scallion, sliced, for topping.
Baby bok choy (小棠菜) or other vegetables, blanched, for side.
Process:
Mix 1 tbsp peanut sauce, 2 tsp seasoned soy sauce, 1 tsp scallion lard, 2 tsp water or stock, ⅛ tsp salt, and ¼ tsp MSG on a plate.
Boil 60g of dried noodles according to the package instructions, or until a touch past al dente.
Transfer the cooked noodles to the plate with the sauce mixture, bringing some of the noodle-boiling water along. This additional liquid helps the sauce come together.
Mix the noodles well with the sauce.
Top with sliced scallion and serve with blanched vegetables (like baby bok choy) on the side.
Notes:
After making this a couple times, you can eyeball the water/stock amount.
Traditionally, alkaline noodles with a bit of tapioca starch kneaded into the dough are used, but non-alkaline noodles are sometimes used in Shaxian.
You can experiment with different types of noodles, including dried pasta, but be aware that it will change the final taste and texture.
Don't worry about straining the noodles too much; some extra cooking water is beneficial for the sauce.