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Hello, this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with chili crisp cold noodles. That's right. I'm going to show you what I think is the perfect hot weather dish, which besides being extraordinarily flavorful, comes together very quickly. And whether you eat this as is or use it for a base for some sliced meats, this is something you're going to be making all summer and possibly fall, winter and spring. And to get started, we're going to boil some noodles in salted water. So, those can be cooking while we make our dressing. Since I like to play a little game called time bomb. Right? You know in the movies where the hero has to deactivate the explosive before everybody gets blown up and the timer's
ticking and you're on the edge of your seat. Well, that's what I'm going to pretend I'm doing as I try to make the dressing before the noodles are cooked. And it might sound silly, but it adds a little bit of excitement to the operation. And for the dressing, we'll start with some peanut butter of the smooth natural variety. And then to that, I'm going to add some Chinese black vinegar, but really any vinegar's going to work here. And I've subbed for this before with half balsamic and half rice vinegar. And that would work well here. And then speaking of rice vinegar, I'm also going to toss in a couple tablespoons of that. And then we'll definitely need a generous amount of soy sauce.
Followed by some finely minced or crushed garlic. As well as some finely minced or grated ginger. And then to help balance all these intense flavors, we'll add a little bit of white sugar. Before we finish up with some toasted sesame oil. And once all that's in there, we'll take a whisk and start to break this up and give it a quick stir. And if we kept stirring, this would eventually smooth out. But to make this step a lot faster and easier, we'll go back to our pot of noodles, which is almost cooked by now. And we'll grab some of that hot starchy water. And we'll splash that into our bowl and continue mixing. And that's going to warm up our peanut butter just a little bit. And you'll see with just a few more of stirring,
that's going to smooth out beautifully. Plus that little bit of water has also thinned out the dressing a bit, which is good because this is a very, very intense dressing. Not only because of what we just put in, but because of what we're going to put in, which is the star of the show, a generous amount of your favorite chili crisp. And the brand I'm using is extra hot. So, I'm not going to put a crazy amount in. And once that's been stirred in, our dressing's done. And because we are after all the hero of finishing this dressing before the timer hits zero, if everything's gone according to plan that just went off. And once again, we've won the time bomb challenge. So, we will quickly pull those noodles
off the heat and carefully dump them into a strainer. And then what we'll do is put those back in the pot and quickly fill it up with cold water. Since we're doing two things right now, we're of course cooling the noodles down with cold water, but we're also trying to rinse off as much starch as possible. So, once those are covered, we'll dump it back in the strainer and then back in the pot. And as that fills up, we'll give it a good swishing around with our hand, which is going to help remove any residual starch from the surface. And you might be thinking, "But Chef John, you've told us to never rinse pasta or macaroni when you're going to
make a salad." Well, I don't think I said never. I almost never say never. But it is true for a lot of salads we don't do that because we want that starch on the surface to hang on to the dressing. But in this case, to get the proper texture, we want these noodles nice and cold and the surface virtually starch free. And once we're confident that's happened, what we'll do is let those sit and soak in the cold water for just a couple minutes while we quickly prep our veggies for the noodles. And for that, I'm going to julienne some carrots on this mandoline. And if you happen to get a too thin floppy tip, just go ahead and bite it off, if no one's watching that is.
All right, if people are watching, use a knife. And by the way, using one of these things without the guide or protective gloves is really dumb. So, as I move on to do the same thing with some sections of English cucumber, let me actually be smart for a change and throw on one of these cheap cut-proof gloves, which is what you should use every time. Okay, it's not a matter of if you'll cut yourself on one of these, it's a matter of when. Unless you're wearing one of these gloves, in which case it will be never. And that's it. Once our veggies are prepped, we will drain our noodles. And we will dump those now cold noodles in our very hot and spicy dressing. And we will toss in our veggies
along with a whole bunch of freshly sliced green onions, as well as a generous amount of toasted sesame seeds. And then we'll grab some tongs and give this a very thorough mixing. Oh, and I should have mentioned already, I used an udon noodle, which I think works great, but literally any noodle's going to work here, including just some good old regular spaghetti, which is probably what I've used most often when I make these kind of noodle salads. But no matter what you're using, we'll mix that very well. And then if we want, we could go ahead and serve it immediately. But if we can, I think [clears throat] the salad's even better if we give it time for the flavors to develop, which
is why I'm going to scrape the dressing on the sides back into the salad, and then wrap it up and pop it in the fridge for about an hour. Although longer is totally fine, including overnight. And once we are ready to serve, we will transfer that into some kind of serving bowl or platter, and proceed with whatever garnishes we're into. Which for me is going to be another sprinkling of sesame seeds. Plus, since we're calling this chili crisp cold noodles, I'm going to spoon over some more of that. And then I finished up with a scattering of freshly sliced green onions. And these easy, fast, absolutely gorgeous chili crisp cold noodles were ready to enjoy.
So, I grabbed some chopsticks that I stole from Whole Foods sushi bar earlier in the day, and I went in for the official taste. And that, my friends, on a hot day, is just about the best thing you'd ever want to eat. Although, I hope you don't wait for a heat wave to try this. Since if I was you, I would try to make this as soon as I could. And while it is fabulous just eating on its own, my favorite way to use this is on some crispy greens as a base underneath some kind of sliced meat, which this time was some very simple soy honey glazed chicken breast. And after finishing the top with some chili oil, some chopped peanuts, and a little bit of freshly chopped cilantro, I grabbed a fork and dug in.
Oh, yeah, the chopsticks would have been fine. But thanks to previous experience, I know that a fork's going to get this stuff into my mouth faster and easier. And as you probably heard me say before, great cooking is all about great contrasts. And what makes this so amazing is the contrast between the cold temperature of the noodles with that intensely flavored spicy dressing, which is also cold, and yet hot on the palate. And I just find that combination so irresistible and highly addictive, which is why you want to be careful with the spice level, cuz you will hurt yourself.
Oh, and as I start eventually digging into the lettuce component here, I'm reminded what great lettuce cups these noodles make. All right, get yourself some butter lettuce or bibb lettuce or even romaine leaves, and then put a nice tangle of noodles on each one. And then you could top it with some chicken like I used here, or some grilled steak, or maybe barbecue pork. So, there are lots of different things you can do with these noodles. Although, just eating them as is in a bowl is a pretty fantastic way to go. And of course, any and all seasonal vegetables are welcome to the party. So, make sure you check the garden or the
farmer's market or the back of your fridge before you make this. But no matter what you add to yours, when you don't feel like hanging out in a hot kitchen, and you want something very fast and cold and refreshing, but also extremely flavorful and satisfying. These chili crisp cold noodles are exactly what you're going to want to make. And I really do hope you give them a try soon. So, please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual. And as always, enjoy.
