Shaanxi's Noodles 陕西的面条

Well, as I said in my earlier post "A Day In The Life", the noodles here in Shaanxi are the best thing since bread and butter. We have them almost every day. They're always hand-made, fresh on the spot just before cooking, or fresh noodles can be bought on street markets ready to cook. Like most food here, the noodles are flavorful, with lots of garlic, cilantro, fresh vegetables, vinegar, hot peppers, and 花椒 (huājiāo, which we apparently call "Sichuan peppercorns" in English, though they're not your grandma's pepper, unless she's from Sichuan). Many noodle places will have 10 or 20 varieties posted. (The picture to the left is actually not of a local variety (it's 牛肉拉面), it's good too though!)

My favorite kind is biángbiáng noodles, which actually remind me of Italian noodles. They are wide, flat noodles, about an inch wide, and they usually put four things on top: meaty gravy, spinach and beansprouts, little pieces of fat, and 西红柿炒鸡蛋 (scrambled eggs and tomatoes). There are many variations, including a meat-only version. They bring the bowl of noodles out with the stuff on top un-mixed, and most people add some 辣子 (hots, mashed jalapeños in oil) and maybe some salt. There is no broth, you just mix everything together with your chopsticks. It's good stuff, but alittle slippery to grab with chopsticks! These two pictures really don't do it justice. The name "biang biang" sounds really funny in Chinese too, it's supposed to sound like the noodles being made as they're stretched and slapped together, I think you could say it's Shaanxi dialect onomatopoeia ("translated" to standard Mandarin). The character for biáng is actually a local curiosity, it has over 50 strokes and is not part of Unicode (it's not really a "standard" character). The picture to the left is of "biáng" written in calligraphy, from a local restaurant (sorry about the reflection). There's a whole story that helps you remember how to write it, depicted below the character and reproduced at the end of this post (with my attempt at a translation). I haven't yet learned to write it by heart.

My other favorite noodles are sàozi noodles (臊子面). They are thinner, curly noodles, with vinegary broth. They're rather spicy. The broth is really the best part. Our friend Jolin, who is from Baoji, taught us how to make them (pictures courtesy of Brandon). First you chop up the vegetables, usually 红萝卜 (hóngluóbo, Chinese carrots), 白萝卜 (báiluóbo, turnips), 葱 (spring onions), 白菜 (bái cài, bak choy), garlic, and tofu. Then, you heat up some oil in a pan until it's almost smoking (be careful, no fires!), and pour it over dried jalapeños to make 辣子 (làzi, hots as we call it where I live). Mince some meat and cook it in oil, for flavor. Cook the noodles, add vinegar to the broth, and add the other stuff. Cook, enjoy. People always say that in standard Mandarin it should be called "shàozi" noodles not "sàozi", but after consulting the dictionary I have my doubts about that. Anyway, give it a try! If it's good, be sure to leave some feedback in the comments. My next post will be more Chinese vocabulary, if anyone has suggestions or requests please comment! I can talk about more local foods and recipes if anyone's interested.

Poem for writing the character biáng, with my "translation":
一点飞上大， A dot flying up to the sky 丶,
黄河两边弯； the Yellow River with bends at both ends 冖;
八字大张口， an "8" character 八, mouth opened wide 丷,
言字往里走， with a "speech" character 言 going in,
左一幺，右一幺； a "yāo" 幺 to the left, a "yāo" 幺 to the right;
你一长，我一长， a "cháng" 長 for you, a "cháng" 長 for me,
中间夹个马大王； between them a horse 馬 king;
月字旁，心字底， a "moon" 月 side radical, a "heart" 心 radical beneath
火镰勾搭挂麻苍； ?
坐个车车逛咸阳。 riding a cart around Xianyang.