Garlic Dipping Sauce Noodles

Dipping sauce noodles! These are a classic from the Chinese Northwest, and today we'll be whipping them up together with a chili garlic dipping sauce.

Ingredients:

* Garlic, one head, ~60g worth of cloves
* Salt, 1/2 tsp
* Five spice powder, 1/2 tsp
* Kashmiri Chilli Powder -or- Korean Chili Powder -or- Northwest style chili powder, 2 tbsp
* Oil, 1/2 cup (we used Sichuan caiziyou - virgin rapeseed oil - though peanut would also work great... or really, anything tasty)
* Aromatics to fry in the oil: onion, ~1/4 medium, finely sliced; ginger, ~1 inch, smashed
* To season the dip: soy sauce, 1.5 tbsp; dark Chinese vinegar, 1.5 tbsp; sugar, 1/4 tsp; MSG, 1/8 tsp

Process:

1. Pound the garlic in a mortar together with the salt. Do not make it overly pasty. In a bowl, combine with the five spice powder and the chili powder.
2. Over a medium flame, fry the onion and the ginger in the oil until the onions turn golden brown. Remove the onion and ginger. Over a high flame, heat up the oil until it begins to smoke, ~190C. Pour into the bowl with the garlic and spices. Give a quick mix, and cover to let it steep, ~10 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the seasoning for the dip and reserve.

FOR THE MIANPIAN NOODLE SHEETS

Makes 2-4 servings (two hungry people, or up to four in the context of a larger meal).

* AP Flour, 400g
* Salt, 1 tsp
* Water, 184g

Process:

1. Mix the flour and the salt, then slowly drizzle in the water bit by bit, mixing it with a chopstick. Press it all together, knead for ~1 minute. Cover and rest for ~20 minutes.
2. Knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth (or alternatively, use a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment – speed 3 – for ten minutes). Cover and rest for ~20-30 minutes.
3. To make the noodles, first divide the dough into four pieces for easier handling. Roll out the dough into a 1mm thick sheet as we showed at 4:04. To make mianpian noodle sheets, roll up the dough again, slice on the top of the rolling pin, then cut into ~3cm wide sheets. Alternatively, if you want something longer, simply slice your whole sheet into ~3cm wide noodles. Thoroughly flour the noodles as you work.
4. Add the noodles to a big pot of boiling water. Allow the water to get back up to a boil, then boil for one minute. Add your vegetable of choice. Taste to ensure your noodles are done – they should be floating. Transfer over to a basin of water – hot in the winter, cool in the summer.