腊八面臘八麵

Name: 腊八面 (臘八麵)
Cuisine: Chinese
Ingredients: 300 g fresh wheat noodles (wide hand-cut or pulled); 1 carrot and 1 potato, diced small; 100 g firm tofu, diced; handful of soaked red beans; Small handful dried day-lily and wood-ear, soaked and chopped; 2 spring onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1 thumb ginger, minced; 2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar; 1 tbsp chilli oil or a pinch of ground chilli (to taste); Salt and a little cornstarch slurry to thicken

xī bā miàn ㄒㄧㄅㄚㄇㄧㄢˋ laap6 baat3 min6

Across the wheat country of Shaanxi and Shanxi, where eight-treasure porridge never took root, Laba is marked instead with a steaming bowl of noodles in a vegetable-rich gravy. A bowl of hand-cut 臘八麵 on the eighth of the twelfth month is the dry north's answer to the south's Laba porridge.

The story behind it

Laba (腊八节) falls on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, a date long tied to year-end sacrifices and, in the Buddhist tradition, to the Buddha's enlightenment. In the millet- and wheat-growing provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi and Henan, rice porridge was historically scarce, so households cooked a hearty noodle instead — typically wide hand-cut or pulled wheat noodles in a brothy gravy thickened with diced winter vegetables, beans and tofu. In Guanzhong the dish is often a 臊子-style noodle, its gravy studded with carrot, potato, tofu and dried day-lily, sometimes with a few beans nodding to the porridge eaten elsewhere. It remains an everyday home meal in the region, made special by the festival date.

Ingredients

300 g fresh wheat noodles (wide hand-cut or pulled)
1 carrot and 1 potato, diced small
100 g firm tofu, diced; handful of soaked red beans
Small handful dried day-lily and wood-ear, soaked and chopped
2 spring onions, 2 garlic cloves, 1 thumb ginger, minced
2 tbsp light soy sauce, 1 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp Chinkiang vinegar
1 tbsp chilli oil or a pinch of ground chilli (to taste)
Salt and a little cornstarch slurry to thicken

Steps

If using dried beans, soak overnight and simmer 30 minutes until tender; drain.
Heat oil and fry the ginger, garlic and white of the spring onion, then add carrot, potato, tofu, day-lily and wood-ear; stir-fry a few minutes.
Pour in about 800 ml water with both soy sauces and the cooked beans; simmer 10–12 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the broth tastes savoury.
Season with salt, swirl in a little cornstarch slurry to lightly thicken the gravy, then add vinegar and chilli oil off the heat.
Boil the noodles in a separate pot until just tender, drain, and divide between bowls.
Ladle the hot gravy over the noodles, scatter the green spring onion on top, and serve at once.