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.
Heat 4.5 cups of water in a pan with salt and a few drops of oil, until it comes to a boil.
Add the hakka noodles and cook the noodles until al dente or according to the package instructions.
When noodles are cooking, rinse and chop all the veggies or you can chop them before you start cooking noodles.
Drain and rinse the cooked noodles in running water, so that the noodles stop cooking.
Next add toasted sesame oil to the noodles and gently mix, so that the oil gets evenly coated on them.
Set the cooked noodles aside.
Stir-frying
Heat oil in a wok or kadai or a frying pan.
On medium-low to medium heat, first add the dry red chilies and garlic.
Sauté for a minute, then add the finely chopped spring onions and french beans
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.
Add the mushrooms, carrots, bell pepper (capsicum) and celery.
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.
Add soy sauce and mix well.
Making hakka noodles
Add cooked noodles and toss them well and stir fry for a minute or two on medium to high heat.
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.
Lastly add the chopped spring onion greens or garnish with spring onions while serving.
Serve Hakka Noodles as is or accompanied with paneer manchurian or gobi manchurian or chilli mushroom.
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Notes
The mushrooms have to be chopped fine, so that they cook quickly on a high heat while stir frying. Since mushrooms are used in this recipe, there is quite some moisture while stir frying the veggies which won't be there if mushrooms are not added. You may have to reduce the time of stir frying if not using mushrooms.
While stir-frying, use medium to high heat depending on the kind of pan or wok you are using. For non-stick pans, stir fry on medium heat and for carbon steel or cast iron skillet, you could use medium-high to high heat.
Remember to shred or thinly slice or chop the veggies in even sizes. This ensures faster and even cooking while stir-frying.
Stir-frying happens quick and fast, so make sure to prep and chop all your ingredients beforehand.
If scaling the recipe up, stir-fry in batches. Doing this prevents the noodles from become soggy and moist. Stir-frying many ingredients together reduces the temperature in the pan resulting in the veggies and noodles releasing moisture. This occurs as the veggies and noodles steam instead of getting stir-fried and lightly seared which make for a crisp texture.
For a spicy taste, add red chili flakes or use green chillies. You could also use spicy sauces like a chilli sauce or sriracha sauce or kimchi sauce.