Hakka Noodles is a classic Indo-Chinese stir-fried noodle dish made with wheat noodles, vegetables and soy sauce. The noodles are cooked until al dente and quickly stir-fried with the veggies on high heat to keep the texture intact. This vegetarian and vegan recipe includes mixed vegetables and button mushrooms for a filling meal. Serve it on its own or pair with other Indo-Chinese dishes.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indo Chinese

Ingredients

  • 200 grams hakka noodles (or 1 pack of Ching's hakka noodles)
  • 4.5 to 5 cups water
  • 1.5 teaspoons toasted sesame oil (- for coating the noodles)
  • 2 tablespoons sunflower oil (or any neutral tasting oil - for stir frying)
  • 2 to 3 dry red chilies (- broken and deseeded or ½ teaspoon chopped green chilies)
  • 1.5 teaspoons garlic (- finely chopped)
  • 3 to 4 spring onions ((scallions) small-sized - finely chopped, reserve a few greens for garnish)
  • 8 to 10 french beans (- finely chopped)
  • 4 to 5 button mushrooms (- finely chopped * check point no 1 in notes below)
  • 1 carrot (- small to medium, finely chopped or shredded)
  • 1 bell pepper ((capsicum) - red, green or yellow, small to medium, finely chopped or thinly sliced)
  • ½ cup cabbage (- finely chopped, optional)
  • 1 teaspoon celery stick (- finely chopped, optional)
  • ¼ teaspoon rice vinegar (or white vinegar or rice wine or mirin)
  • 1.5 teaspoons soy sauce ((naturally brewed) or tamari - add as needed)
  • salt (as required)
  • crushed black pepper (or black pepper powder, as required)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons spring onions greens (- chopped or coriander leaves, for garnish)

Method

Cooking noodles

  1. Heat 4.5 cups of water in a pan with salt and a few drops of oil, until it comes to a boil.
  2. Add the hakka noodles and cook the noodles until al dente or according to the package instructions.
  3. When noodles are cooking, rinse and chop all the veggies or you can chop them before you start cooking noodles.
  4. Drain and rinse the cooked noodles in running water, so that the noodles stop cooking.
  5. Next add toasted sesame oil to the noodles and gently mix, so that the oil gets evenly coated on them.
  6. Set the cooked noodles aside.

Stir-frying

  1. Heat oil in a wok or kadai or a frying pan.
  2. On medium-low to medium heat, first add the dry red chilies and garlic.
  3. Sauté for a minute, then add the finely chopped spring onions and french beans
  4. Increase the heat a bit and stir fry for 3 minutes. For non-stick frying pans, keep the heat to medium and for cast iron or carbon steel pans or wok, use medium-high to high heat.
  5. Add the mushrooms, carrots, bell pepper (capsicum) and celery.
  6. Stir fry all the veggies on a medium to high heat until they start getting slightly browned from the edges. This will take about 5 to 6 minutes after adding the carrots.
  7. Add soy sauce and mix well.

Making hakka noodles

  1. Add cooked noodles and toss them well and stir fry for a minute or two on medium to high heat.
  2. Season with salt and pepper. Also, add rice vinegar or white vinegar. Continue to toss and cook on a medium to high heat for a minute. Toss the whole mixture well.
  3. Lastly add the chopped spring onion greens or garnish with spring onions while serving.
  4. Serve Hakka Noodles as is or accompanied with paneer manchurian or gobi manchurian or chilli mushroom.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.