This could be a landmark moment in the global spread of Sichuan cooking, the first English language tian shui mian recipe - maybe (I'm sure someone can prove me wrong).
As mentioned previously tian shui mian managed to fight off stiff competition from about 600 other meals to make it into my top ten. The bitter sweet sauce, hot chili and lip-numbing Sichuan pepper clinging to thick, chewy hand made noodles was almost too good for words. If you've been to Baozi Inn then it's on the menu there although they call it something like Sweet and Spicy Noodles. I've not eaten it though so can't comment on their version.
Loving it so much I obviously I wanted to recreate this meal so soon after getting back to Blighty I turned to Fuchsia Dunlop - whose books are my favourite Sichuan resource - but, alas, nothing. Next up came Google but whilst it got me slightly warmer (the dish is mentioned on a couple of English language sites, incuding this site at number one) there was still no recipe. Luckily I'd bought a couple of Chinese language Sichuan recipe books whilst travelling so dictionary in hand I waded through the indexes of them. Still nothing. At my wit's end I had the bright idea (even if I say so myself) to utilise the Chinese language pack installed on the PC, get the symbols in Google and search with them. Bullseye! Pages of recipes in Chinese, all I needed to do then was translate.
Luckily for me the gf's cousin was over from Malaysia last weekend so I called upon his services and we flew through the ingredients, all bar one that is - red soy sauce. This completely stumped both him and me but another symbol fueled Google search told us this was a sweetened, flavoured soy sauce (not the sweet bean paste I had guessed was in it when first tasting the dish). They were also kind enough to provide a skeleton recipe.
Armed with this information and a couple of attempts to get it just right I can now present to you tian shui mian. On top of being damn tasty it's got the added bonus of requiring you to make your own noodles which (ignoring pasta) was a first for me. I wasn't sure of the gluten content of Chinese noodle flour so I decided to try a 50:50 mix of strong and plain flours on the first attempt, this worked perfectly so I'm sticking with it.
Tian Shui Mian, serves 4 people for a light meal
Noodles Sauce Method
200gr strong white flour
200gr water
1ts salt
Oil for rolling out
50gr chili oil, with sediment
1 TB sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 ts chicken powder (optional)
10gr sesame paste, I used the dark Sichuan kind but you can use tahini too
2ts roasted and then crushed Sichuan pepper
For the noodles combine the flours and the salt then add the water, stirring and kneading till all the flour has combined. There's no need to knead till smooth like you would bread, at this point anyway. Place in a bowl and cover, leaving for 30 minutes.
At this point remove the dough and give it a knead. As the dough has had half an hour to hydrate it should knead easily, coming together in a smooth lump in little time at all. Once smooth cover in clingfilm and leave while you put the sauce together.
Sauce
This couldn't be much simpler, once you've made the red soy sauce that is.
Combine everything except the Sichuan pepper in a bowl and stir until the sesame paste has broken up and all is combined
To Finish
Oil the dough, roll out to 5mm thick then cut into noodles 5mm to 10mm wide. Dust well to avoid sticking. Once they're all cut place into boiling water and cook until floating, probably 3 minutes. Have a nibble on the end of one to check they're done.
Drain the noodles and split between four bowls, place a quarter of the sauce on top of each and then sprinkle with Sichuan pepper.
To Eat
Stir the noodles with your chopsticks till they're coated with the sauce and then enjoy.
Note: Red Soy Sauce Method
80ml light soy sauce
120gr molasses brown sugar
1 TB rice wine
1 star anise
1 5cm piece of cassia bark (Chinese cinnamon)
Small pinch of fennel seeds
The excess can be used for more tian shui mian (once will not be enough) or to dip dumplings in.
Bloody brilliant. I am definitely trying this.
Posted by: Lizzie | December 10, 2009 at 12:35 PM
How gorgeous! I made pan mee once but I never experimenting with gluten content of flour. And that sauce looks soooo good!
Posted by: Su-Lin | January 17, 2010 at 08:49 PM
so excited to see this recipe here... i will be giving it a go this coming week.
Posted by: ehbenoit | January 18, 2010 at 12:20 AM
i've not tried your recipe but will do soon. thanks for posting this - i tried tian shui mian for 3yuan (30p) in chengdu and it's the best meal i've ever had.
Posted by: rob | January 19, 2010 at 05:16 PM
Lizzie - you need to crack on.
Su Lin - pan mee's still on the list for me to make. I'm currently homeless but I move into a new flat soon and it will be one of the first things I make. When I do I think I'll go for the same flour proportions as I did here.
ehbenoit - I've had some good feedback from someone that followed the recipe. Would be nice to hear if you're pleased with the result.
rob - I think we paid about the same when we had it in Chengdu and were blown away. Definitely one of the most memorable dishes from my time away.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | January 23, 2010 at 09:40 AM
Just made this and am very, very pleased. Fantastic flavor. Had to fudge a bit... no cassia bark or star anise in the house, alas. Added a bit of five spice powder instead. Still, nice smoky heat cut with pleasant (but not cloying) sweetness.
Posted by: Andrea | February 20, 2010 at 06:41 PM
Glad you liked it Andrea. I'm well overdue another attempt. I think with the fennel seeds, cassia and star anise it's getting very close to 5 spice anyway and definitely tastes that way, even if you use the separate ingredients.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | February 22, 2010 at 09:06 AM
Joshua,
I've been meaning to post a follow up comment regarding my preparation of tian shui mian. the sauce came out fantastic, and the noodles were lovely. I should have used my hand crank pasta machine to ensure the evenness of noodle thickness, but otherwise they were fine. the sauce won raves with my everyone at the table... thanks for all the trouble you went through to post this recipe!!
Eric
Posted by: ehbenoit | February 27, 2010 at 09:34 PM
Glad it went down well. My pleasure.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | March 17, 2010 at 11:52 AM
these look really, really gorgeous, carbs and chili, my two fave things. i stumbled upon your blog via Lizzie and Su-Lin- happy to have found it. Adore SE Asian food (and burgers, too, that's a great post as well). best wishes, shayma
Posted by: shayma | March 25, 2010 at 12:21 PM
That's a fine choice of favourite things Shayma. Lizzie did give me some great publicity this week. Glad you've found the blog, I'm a fan of your blog (keep meaning to make those potatoes fried with cumin and chili) so nice to see you're reading mine too.
Posted by: Joshua Armstrong | March 25, 2010 at 01:16 PM