Sichuan Sweet Water Noodles

Sweet water noodles! A (perhaps underrated?) Sichuan noodle dish, this classic features some... really thick noodles.

NOODLES, INGREDIENT LIST

* High gluten flour (preferably a Chinese noodle flour or an Italian 00) 200g

* Salt, 4g (~¾ tsp)

* Water, 100g

* Oil, 1 tbsp (not in the dough – this is to coat after boiling)

'SWEET WATER', INGREDIENT LIST

* Soy sauce (生抽), 100g (~100mL)

* Slab sugar (片糖) -or- jaggery -or- dark brown sugar, 25g

* Spices:

star anise (八角), 1 pcs;

sand ginger (沙姜), 2 pcs;

cinnamon (桂皮), ½ stick;

Tsaoko a.k.a. Chinese black cardamom (草果), 1 pcs.

Note that Sand ginger is annoyingly sometimes labelled ‘dried ginger’ in English on some packages – use the characters to confirm. If you cannot find it, substitute with dried ginger or dried galangal. If you cannot find Tsaoko, you can substitute it with Indian black cardamom.

LAZY CHILI OIL, INGREDIENT LIST

* Red, fragrant chili powder, e.g. Shaanxi Qinjiao, Korean Gochugaru, Kashmiri Chili Powder, 2 tbsp.

* Optional: spicy chili powder, e.g. cayenne pepper

* Oil, ¼ cup

* Lao Gan Ma chili crisp, ¼ cup

ONE SMALL SNACK SIZED BOWL, INGREDIENT LIST

* Cooked noodles from above, 100g

* Chili oil, 2 tbsp

* Sweet water soy sauce, ½ tbsp

* Garlic water, ½ tbsp.

* Crushed toasted peanuts, 2 tsp

* Toasted sesame oil (麻油), ¼ tsp

* Sichuan peppercorn powder (花椒面), ¼ tsp

* Sugar, 1/8 tsp

* MSG (味精), 1/8 tsp