Sacha Meat Sauce Noodles Lunch Box

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This sacha meat sauce noodles lunch box comes about by combining two of my family’s favourite Taiwanese recipes – sacha sauce noodles, topped with an equally delicious shallot sauce minced meat. The lunch box can be kept at room temperature (if there is no access to a fridge and/or microwave) for half a day. The shallot sauce meat, broccoli and egg can be prepared in advance as part of meal prepping, so that it’s easy to assemble this lunch box on the actual day itself.

STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS

STEP 1. MAKE SHALLOT SAUCE MINCED MEAT (MEAL PREP)

I made a big pot of Taiwanese-style shallot sauce meat the day before. To me, meal prepping is an important aspect of making a lunch box!

Check out the detailed step-by-step photos for shallot sauce meat recipe here.

STEP 2. MAKE THE SACHA MEAT SAUCE NOODLES

This is sacha sauce + sesame oil + vinegar. The soy sauce should be added at this step too, but I forgot about it and I added it later when tossing the noodles. Use a spatula to mix the sauce well.

Add cooked noodles. For authenticity, use Taiwanese yongchun noodles (永春面). I used ramen noodles instead as that’s what I have at my pantry.  You can use any favourite noodles such as angel hair, spaghetti or udon …

Toss to mix the sauce with the noodles evenly. Season to taste. The sacha noodles are done!

STEP 3. ASSEMBLE THE LUNCH BOX

Place sacha noodles in the lunch box. Ladle generous amount of shallot meat sauce over the noodles. Top with broccoli florets (or any veg such as blanched bok chye or shredded cucumber), a boiled egg and generous amount of chopped spring onions.

Optional: extra sauce bottle. The noodles tend to get dry as they sit in the lunch box. I borrowed Japanese maze soba’s concept of drizzling a savoury sauce over the noodles just before eating, so that the noodles are deliciously flavourful & oily (in a good way). I simply bottle the sauce from my big pot of cooked shallot sauce meat and add a bit of sesame oil. Drizzle this sauce over the noodles just before mixing and eating. Sprinkle a splash of water over the noodles if you are reheating the noodles in the microwave.

Make sure to mix the noodles well, so that you can enjoy the deliciously savoury minced meat in every bite!