Shacha Sauce Noodles

Greetings from Taipei! :D I’m currently part-working and part-holidaying in my favourite city.  I’m staying in a studio apartment with a tiny kitchen so look out for some new TW recipes coming from my Taipei kitchen. Since my kitchen is limited, it’s apt that I whip up this shacha sauce noodles (沙茶酱拌面), which is almost as easy and fast to make as instant noodles.

Cooking from Taipei:
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Taipei Kitchen
My little kitchen at my studio apartment in Taipei (pic taken on my iPhone).

Sacha Sauce Noodles Recipe
This recipe is truly easy, just mix shacha sauce with a few simple seasonings in a small bowl. Then toss in some cooked noodles and the noodles are ready! So good on its own, or to go with any side-dish.

Sacha Sauce Noodles Recipe

Shacha Sauce
3 flavours of sacha sauce (left to right): vegetarian, “mala” (“spicy numbing”) and original. Pic taken on my iPhone at a supermarket in Taipei.

Shacha sauce (沙茶醬; aka satay sauce or Chinese barbecue sauce) is everywhere in Taiwan, even 7-11 here sells them. Pictured above is the most popular brand (Bull Head/牛頭牌) in its three flavours: vegetarian, spicy and original. Most people will get the latter two, aka the non-vegetarian types. My favourite will be “mala” (麻辣) spicy version. In Singapore, you can buy shacha sauce (only the big bottles and original version though) at Yue Hwa or Kwong Cheong Thye.

Yang Chun Noodles
And this is yang chun noodles (陽春麵), alternatively labelled as wheat noodles. It is a well-loved everyday noodles in Taiwan. They are also easy to find in Singapore at our major supermarkets. You can use any favourite noodles though for this dish, even pasta!

Shacha Sauce Noodles Recipe

This recipe is the measurement for one bowl of sacha sauce noodles. You can cook as many bowls as you like by making each portion of noodle sauce in the serving bowl, then tossing in the cooked noodles to mix in the sauce.

Ingredients:

  • 1 bundle (50-70g) dried “yang chun” noodles (阳春面) may substitute with any favourite noodles such as pasta or egg noodles
  • few thinly sliced Japanese cucumber
  • chopped scallions and/or coriander

(A) Sauce

Directions:

  1. Make the quick sauce by combining (A) in the serving bowl; stir to mix evenly with a spoon.
  2. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Add noodles and cook according to package instructions, about 3-5 minutes or until soft. Drain noodles in a colander and rinse it through tap water to cool.
  3. Toss the drained noodles in the prepared sauce. Garnish with spring onions and/or coriander and serve.