Chinese Noodles with Pork in Spicy Peanut Sauce

One of the BEST things about these noodles are the fact you don’t need a pasta maker to make them. Now, if you have a pasta maker, by all means, pull it out and use it. But, honestly, working the dough and hand cutting just makes this dish even more special.

Now, don’t feel overwhelmed with all the steps. Yes, there are definitely a number of steps when it comes to making the homemade noodles, BUT, none of the steps are difficult. It takes time, but is absolutely doable!

If you don’t have pork, shrimp would also be delicious!

I originally sauce David Lebovitz make this recipe and he followed a recipe by Lisa Lin . I took her recipe and added the pork to make a heartier meal out of it. For a vegetarian option, you can easily use tofu or sauté shitake and bok choy.

If you’re a visual learner, I’m including some process shots to show you how some of the steps should look. But don’t worry so much about getting the perfect rectangle shape with the dough — my first couple of batches were more oblong and I got into a better groove by the end. Just try to keep the size of the noodles as similar as possible so they cook uniformly.

Using chopsticks makes getting the dough started easier because it’s going to be really sticky at first.

Ingredients

For the noodles

320 g all-purpose flour (about 2 1/4 cups) — if you have a scale, now is the time to break it out, so you can be as accurate as possible. Weight matters when it comes to noodles.
1 teaspoon kosher salt
160 grams room temperature water (about 3/4 cup)

For the Pork

2 pounds of ground pork
2 teaspoons fish sauce
Optional garnishes: chili oil, diced scallions, toasted sesame seeds, lime
2 teaspoons soy sauce
about 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (you can use the paste if that’s what you have)
freshly ground pepper

Spicy Peanut Sauce

6 tablespoons of your favorite teriyaki sauce (this is my favorite — Soy Vay Veri Veri Teriyaki)
2 tablespoons peanut butter (smooth or crunchy — I like the added texture of crunchy, but totally up to you)
2 tablespoons chili oil (if you’re worried about the spice, just use 1 tablespoon or leave it out and serve as an optional garnish)
1 tablespoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons maple syrup (you can also use granulated sugar)
2 teaspoons kosher salt

Instructions

FOR THE PORK (I like to make the pork first, turn off the heat, and then reheat it before adding the noodles and peanut sauce)

In a large wide skillet (be sure it’s nice and wide because you’ll be adding the noodles and sauce in a bit), heat about 2 tablespoons of unflavored oil (grapeseed, canola or vegetable would all work). Add the pork, and use a spoon to break it up. When it starts to brown, add the fish sauce, soy sauce, ginger and pepper. Keep cooking over medium heat until it’s golden brown, and fully cooked. I love also getting darker brown crispy bits because those have so much flavor.
When the pork is fully cooked, set aside, and turn the heat off.

FOR THE DOUGH:

In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together. Add the water and use a spoon or chopsticks to stir everything together. I find that chopsticks really get it going easily, so if you have chopsticks, use them. You can also use your fingers to gently start mixing things together.
Once the water has been absorbed into the flour, use your hands to start gathering all the loose flour into the dough. You want to really grab at the dough and squish it together to get it to start sticking. The dough will seem extremely dry in the beginning, but no need to worry — it’s supposed to look like that! Continue to work the flour into the dough. This part of the process should take a couple of minutes and then you’ll have a lump of shaggy looking dough.
When the dough is pretty much sticking together, turn it out onto whatever surface you plan on rolling it out on — marble counter, marble slab, pastry board. You may be VERY tempted to add extra flour to the surface, but you don’t need to do that. Too much flour will make the noodles tough. Once you’ve turned out the dough onto your surface, continue kneading it for about 5-8 minutes. The dough will start off seeming quite dry, but the more you work it, the smoother it will get.
When the dough ball is relatively smooth, set it inside a bowl, cover with plastic wrap or a lid and let it rise for about 1 hour. It should be good to go after 45 minutes, so let it rise for at least that.
Once the dough has rested, take it out of the bowl, and knead it for a minute or two. You’ll notice the surface of the dough is much smoother now.
Sprinkle some flour onto a large baking sheet and set it aside. This is where you’ll put the dough once you’ve cut it.
Generously flour your work surface. You want a good amount of flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
Now, if you have a pasta maker by all means use it to cut the dough into fettuccine size. If you don’t have a pasta maker, keep on reading!
Divide the dough into 4 smaller pieces. Keep 1 piece out and put the other 3 pieces back in the bowl and cover so the dough doesn’t dry out.
Shape this piece of dough into an oval and roll it out into a rectangle that is about 12 inches long and 5 1/2 to 6 inches wide.
Honestly, the hardest part of rolling out the dough is just getting it started. It will want to shrink back at you, but there’s a great way to help with that. The trick is to gently press down on one end of the dough as you use a rolling pin to stretch out the other end. And then do the same thing on the other side. If you find the dough sticking, just add more flour — sprinkle over the dough or over the rolling pin. Or both, as needed.
Once you have rolled out the dough into a rectangle shape (and, don’t worry if it’s not a perfect rectangle — this are hand cut and will still be delicious!), lightly brush flour over the dough. Then, fold the dough into thirds.
Grab one short end of the dough and fold up about a third of it towards the center. Then, fold the other short end towards the center so that you now have 3 overlapping layers of dough.
Next, rotate the dough 90 degrees so that the folds are on the top and bottom, sort of like an envelope. Use a sharp knife (not a pastry cutter) to cut the dough into 1/2-inch pieces. Make sure your cuts are perpendicular to the folds. Gently unravel each individual noodle. Then, gather all the noodles and make fold them in half into a small, loose bundle. Transfer the noodles to the floured baking sheet.
Continue rolling out and cutting the remaining dough into noodles.
To cook the noodles — they cook just like you would cook pasta, except much faster because they’re fresh. Bring a large pot of water to bowl, salt it generously and use a spider to gently add the noodles. I cook 2 batches at a time, so they don’t get too crowded. They noodles are done after 2-4 minutes — you’ll know when they float to the top. Use a spider to remove them and place them in a large bowl full of ice water — this will stop them from cooking. After you cook all the batches, drain the noodles, return to pot and drizzle with a little bit of sesame oil to prevent them from sticking together.

FOR THE PEANUT SAUCE

Mix all the spicy peanut sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set it aside.

TO PUT IT ALL TOGETHER:

Reheat the pork, add the noodles and the peanut sauce and use tongs to toss it all together. Be sure to keep the heat on low, you want to gently reheat everything. When it’s hot, dish up into bowls and garnish with diced scallions. I love adding a squeeze of lime juice, too, and because I love spice I always add an extra drizzle of chili oil.

Have you made this recipe?I'd love to know! Leave a comment or recipe rating and tag me @amenuforyou on social media!

Chinese Noodles with Pork in Spicy Peanut Sauce