A delicious recipe for cold rice noodles with garlic and chili
Hello everyone, today I want to introduce you to a Chinese recipe that’s not very well-known, Liang Pi. First, a big disclaimer: originally, one of the fundamental characteristics of this recipe is homemade large flat rice noodles that require a looong manufacturing process involving gluten extraction, which I’ve decided to spare you for this article.
The goal here is to present a simple and quick recipe to make, as I simply haven’t yet managed to find a working method for the noodles. I plan to continue testing and eventually add the manufacturing method, but it will remain marked as “optional”.
In the meantime, the recipe is worth trying if you like quick recipes with chili oil-based sauces like Sichuan noodles or biang biang noodles.
What are Liang Pi?
Liang Pi (凉皮), whose name translates to cold skin noodles
, is a noodle dish originating from the Chinese province of Shaanxi but which has gradually conquered all of China. Here, because they are usually served cold, we prefer them in summer, but in China they are consumed in all seasons.
The main characteristic of this dish is, as mentioned before, the very wide noodles that are made from rice and pure gluten (and it’s the latter that makes the manufacturing process so long). The seasoning is quite simple: homemade chili oil, garlic, cucumber, rice vinegar, sesame seeds,…
One thing that caught my attention during my research is that this noodle recipe is mistakenly called “Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce” on French-speaking internet, and not just on one site. It seems that a blogger released the recipe a few years ago calling it that, and since then everyone has imitated it.
However, I was able to easily find that of the 5-6 major variants of Liang Pi, which are mainly based on the method of making the noodles and not the sauce, only one uses sesame paste. Anyway, it was amusing to see the little game of telephone that happened in the Asian cooking blog world for this dish.
The Main Ingredients of Liang Pi
Chili flakes: Ideally, find Chinese flakes, but in a pinch Korean gochugaru can work, it has the advantage of being much less spicy
Rice noodles: in lieu of homemade noodles, like for chow fun, take rice noodles as wide as possible as for chow fun
Black rice vinegar: Don’t use white rice vinegar, it doesn’t taste the same at all. You can find it in Asian supermarkets
Light soy sauce: Salty soy sauce that can be found in all stores
Star anise: brings a delicious anise flavor to the chili oil
Authentic Liang Pi – Cold Chinese Rice Noodles
Ingredients
- 2 portions of wide flat rice noodles
- 4 tablespoon of garlic water
- 4 tablespoons black rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of chili oil
- Chopped coriander
- Grated cucumber
- Bean sprouts
Spicy oil
- 85 g of chili flakes
- 170 ml of peanut oil
- 30 g of peanuts crushed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon of white sesame seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 star anise
- 2 cloves garlic lightly crushed
Garlic water
- 1.5 tablespoon of grated garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 110 ml water
Ingredients to add per bowl of noodles
- 1 portion of wide flat rice noodles
- 2 tablespoons of garlic water
- 2 tablespoons black rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of chili oil
- Chopped coriander
- Grated cucumber
- Bean sprouts
Procédé
Spicy oil
- In a bowl, mix the chili flakes, salt, sesame seeds, and peanuts85 g of chili flakes, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon of white sesame seeds, 30 g of peanuts
- In a small saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat with the cinnamon, star anise, and garlic cloves. Start with cold oil. Heat until the aromatics begin to change color (5-10 minutes). It should sizzle well170 ml of peanut oil, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 star anise, 2 cloves garlic
- Pour the oil into the bowl with the chili flakes in 3 stages.
- Mix well and let cool
Garlic water
- In a bowl, mix the garlic and salt1.5 tablespoon of grated garlic, 1 teaspoon salt
- Add the water and mix well110 ml water
Toppings
- Blanch the bean sprouts for 10 seconds in boiling water.Bean sprouts
- Drain and set aside
- Grate the cucumberGrated cucumber
Plating
- Cook the noodles according to package instructions, rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process, and drain
- Add a portion of noodles to a bowl, the garlic water, black rice vinegar, soy sauce, chili oil, plenty of coriander, blanched bean sprouts, and grated cucumber2 tablespoons of garlic water, 2 tablespoons black rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon light soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of chili oil, Chopped coriander, Grated cucumber, Bean sprouts, 1 portion of wide flat rice noodles
Nutrition
Culinary sources
I’ve adapted the recipe from “Souped Up Recipes” who tried to imitate the recipe from Xi’an’s, a famous New York spot where I’ve already had the chance to eat these noodles
