From stir-fry to pudding: Yotam Ottolenghi’s noodle recipes | Food

Everyone (still) sitting comfortably? Do you still eat well? november huh? Food-wise, for me, the month has become more and more about turning to comfort foods. Comfort food means different things to different people, of course. For some, it suggests something to happily slurp or eat out of a bowl. For others, it’s a meal that can be put together quickly or, conversely, takes a bit of time to perfect. For others, comfort food is always something sweet. My general answer to this quest for comfort is noodles, and my specific answer is this week’s recipes.

Stir-fried noodles with sambal and crab (pictured above)

I have used rice noodles, which are very light, but if you are using another type of noodle, you may want to increase the serving weight. Crab is a perfect match, but canned sardines or leftover cooked white fish work well too. You could even leave the seafood out altogether, in which case serve the noodles with just the sambal and coconut sauce.

Homework 8 minutes
Cook 8 minutes
It serves 2

60g coconut oil
5 fresh makrut lime leaves

170ml canned coconut cream
100 g dried rice noodles
cooked according to package instructions
200 g of minced crabideally a mix of white and brown meat (optional)
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
2 spring onionstrimmed and julienned
2 limesCut into pieces to serve
sea ​​salt flakes

for the sambal
4 red chiliessown
180 g sweet cherry tomatoes
10 g fresh turmeric root
peeled and finely chopped
3 garlic clovespeeled and coarsely chopped
10g fresh gingerpeeled and coarsely chopped
2 small shallotspeeled and finely chopped
2 teaspoons tomato paste
2½ tablespoons soy sauce
2½ tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons green (or black) peppercorns
coarsely ground
20ml lime juice

Place all the ingredients for the sambal in the small bowl of a food processor, add a teaspoon of flake salt, and mix gently.

Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over high heat, add the lime leaves and two-thirds of the sambal, and sauté for three minutes (caution: you may spit). Add the coconut cream and sauté for two more minutes.

Add the cooked noodles, stir to combine, then turn off the heat. Add the remaining sambal, spring onions, and minced crab (reserve some to finish the dish). Transfer to a plate, garnish with the spring onion and reserved crab, and serve with lime wedges to squeeze on top.

Biang biang noodles with anesthetic oil and tahini soy sauce

Yotam Ottolenghi biang biang noodles with anesthetic oil and tahini soy sauce.Yotam Ottolenghi biang biang noodles with anesthetic oil and tahini soy sauce.

This is inspired by Xi’an Impression, a fantastic restaurant in North London that serves food from the Shan Xi province in China. During the first lockdown, my colleague Ixta Belfrage He came up with this recipe in homage to his two favorite dishes there: biang biang noodles and cucumber salad with a special sesame sauce. It became something of a viral sensation, as people from all over the world took to Instagram to throw and slap their own noodles. It is important to use a normal flour with 10-12% protein; less than 10%, and the dough will tear rather than stretch (you can find the protein levels in the nutrition information on the side of the package). Don’t worry if the noodles break at the ends, they will still taste great with the sauces. The technique takes practice, and you’ll get better as you do them, I promise. (You can find step-by-step video guides in Ixta’s Instagram story highlights.)

get ready and rest 3 hours
Cook 1hr+
It serves 2

for the noodles
300g plain flour (10-12% protein)
½ teaspoon salt
150g of water
(yes, I know it comes out at 150ml, but that’s why I always weigh it, to be super precise)

For the anesthetic oil
150 ml of sunflower oil
1 banana shallot
peeled and finely chopped (60g)
2 garlic clovespeeled and finely chopped
10g fresh gingerpeeled and finely grated
½ red chilivery finely chopped
1 whole star anise
1 tablespoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon chili flakes
1½ teaspoons Szechuan peppercorns
coarsely ground
1½ teaspoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon of black sesame seeds
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
Salt

For the tahini and soy sauce
60g tahini (mixed very well, to combine the solids and fat)
2 tablespoons of soy sauceplus extra to serve
1½ tablespoon maple syrup
1½ tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon of water

Serve
2 spring onionstrimmed and julienned
½ large cucumberhalved lengthwise, seeds removed and discarded, pulp cut into 1½cm dice
1½ tablespoons sesame seedstoasted

For the noodles, mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then very slowly pour in the water, stirring with a toothpick all the while, until the mixture comes together into a dough; it will look dry once all the water is gone. added, but don’t be tempted to add more.

Transfer to a work surface and knead for about five minutes, until the dough comes together into a fluffy ball. You will need to use some muscle here, because it will be quite difficult. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 10 minutes.

After the dough has rested, knead vigorously again for 10 minutes, until very smooth: it should now have the texture of Play-Doh, and if you poke it, the indentation should stay, instead of popping out again. Cover again with a kitchen towel and rest for another 10 minutes.

Grease a tray with vegetable oil. Cut the dough into eight equal pieces of about 55g each, then roll each piece into a sausage and place on the greased tray. Cover with cling film and let stand at room temperature for two to three hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the numbing oil. Heat two tablespoons of sunflower oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, add the following eight ingredients and a quarter teaspoon of salt, reduce heat to medium, and cook very gently for five minutes, stirring frequently, until the shallot is soft. Add the tomato paste and all the sesame seeds, and cook for another two minutes. Add the remaining 120ml of oil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes; if the oil begins to bubble, remove it from the heat for a minute to cool. Turn off the heat and let cool and infuse for at least an hour.

For the tahini soy sauce, mix all ingredients in a bowl until very smooth.

Once the dough has rested, flatten each sausage into a rectangle: grease a work surface, then working with one piece at a time, use a rolling pin to roll the sausage dough into a 16cm x 8cm rectangle. Use a toothpick to make a notch in the middle of the rectangle; this will be your “rip line” later on. Repeat with the other seven sausage links, then let rest for 10 minutes.

Scoop a large spoonful of the numbing oil and tahini into two serving bowls and set aside.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, again working with one piece of dough at a time, grasp both ends of the rectangle of dough between the thumb and fingers of each hand, and begin to pull slowly and gently, until you feel there is no more tension left. Still holding both ends, tap the noodle on your work surface about five times, gently stretching it out more as you go.

Lower the now stretched noodle onto your work surface, then using the notch you made earlier, break it in half lengthwise to form a large, tight loop. Drop the noodles directly into the saucepan of boiling water and cook for about a minute, or until it floats to the top. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough, adding them to the water as they stretch and tear. Drain cooked noodles well, then transfer to serving bowls.

Use chopsticks to mix the noodles with the oil and sauces, adding more of each to taste. Top with spring onion, cucumber, and sesame seeds, and serve with more soy sauce drizzled on top.

Sweet pineapple and coconut noodles

Sweet coconut and pineapple noodles from Yotam Ottolenghi.Sweet coconut and pineapple noodles from Yotam Ottolenghi.

Served hot on a cold winter’s day, it’s as comforting for breakfast as it is for pudding. Save the recipe for sunnier times, too, because it’s also delicious eaten cold, straight from the fridge.

Homework 10 minutes
Cook 40 minutes
It serves 4

100 g of angel hair pastamore or less broken into 4 cm pieces
1 can of 400 ml of whole coconut milk
50 g raw virgin coconut oil
400 ml of water

3 cardamom podsslightly open with a mallet
2 makrut lime leavesslightly bruised by hand
60g powdered sugar
2 tablespoons desiccated coconutlightly toasted
1 limecut into 4 wedges

For the pineapple caramel
200g pineapplepeeled and cored, meat cut into 2cm x 1cm pieces
100g powdered sugar
1 lime
– finely grated zest, to get 1 teaspoon, and juiced, to get 1 tablespoon
40g coconut oil
Salt

In a large skillet, toast the pasta over medium heat, stirring frequently, for five minutes or until lightly browned—don’t worry if it’s not perfectly toasted. Add coconut milk, coconut oil, water, cardamom, crushed lime leaves, a pinch of salt and sugar, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 18-20 minutes. , stirring frequently. or until the paste has softened and the mixture thickens. Keep warm until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, sprinkle the sugar all over the bottom of a medium saucepan, add two tablespoons of water, and cook over medium heat, without stirring, for eight minutes, until you have a golden caramel. Add the pineapple, a quarter teaspoon of the salt, and the lime juice, and cook, stirring frequently, for an additional eight minutes. Add the coconut oil, cook for another three minutes, until the caramel has thickened to a caramel-like consistency, then set aside.

Divide the pasta mixture among four bowls, then top with the pineapple caramel, desiccated coconut, and lime zest. Squeeze the lime wedges over the top before serving.

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