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Xi’an Impression in Highbury, and its sister Xi’an BiangBiang Noodles in Whitechapel, are known for rich combinations of spices and soft, fresh noodles, all inspired by the food from Xi’an province in China. (At the spin-off branch you can even watch the team hand-pull noodles in the open kitchen.) Want to have a go at making the restaurants’ most iconic dish at home? Yeah, you do. (They are both doing delivery, though, just in case you’re feeling lazy or you fuck up the cooking.)
Biang biang noodles
What you need
1. Plain flour (protein, 10 percent).
2. Salt.
3. Oil.
4. Water.
5. Spring onion.
6. Garlic mince.
7. Chilli powder.
8. Sichuan pepper.
9. Light soy sauce.
10. Black vinegar.
What you need to do
Prepare the dough
1. Mix the flour with water. The flour-water ratio you want is 2:1. Add salt (normally ¼ tsp).
2. Knead until well-combined and smooth. Then divide the dough equally into eight or ten pieces, knead each again and roll into a cylinder shape.
3. Finally, coat each piece with oil, place them in a covered container and leave to rest for one hour.
Make the noodles
1. Heat up a pot of water.
2. Flatten each piece of dough into a rectangle shape with a rolling pin, then start pulling the noodle gently until stretches to your preferred length and thickness.
3. By that time, the water should have boiled. Put the stretched noodles into the boiling water and cook for about one to two minutes. Then plate. You can serve them with water-boiled green leaves if you prefer.
Seasoning
1. Place finely chopped spring onion (1 tsp), garlic mince (1-2 tsp), chilli powder (to taste), Sichuan pepper (½ tsp) and salt (to taste) on top of the noodles.
2. Heat up oil until it smokes, then pour it over the top of noodles and add light soy sauce (2 tsp) and black vinegar (1 tsp). Stir well before serving.
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