Shanghai Hot Sauce Noodles, or Shanghai Lajiang Mian (上海辣酱面) was one of the many noodle soup dishes we enjoyed during our last visit to Shanghai.
It is mostly known as “la jiang mian” or sometimes “doubanjiang mian (豆瓣酱面) ,” and like any other dish, it has many variations. The dish is comprised of noodles, broth, and a spicy mixture of pork, tofu, peanuts, spicy chili bean paste, and sugar (the Shanghainese love sugar in their dishes). The spicy, savory mixture poured over a hot bowl of noodles is simply delicious, if not addictive.
La jiang mian is literally translated to “hot sauce noodles,” hence the name we came up for this dish in English. Chinese will eat these Shanghai hot sauce noodles for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The breakfast version of these Shanghai hot sauce noodles was lighter, with more soup and a lighter sauce with only spiced tofu and few scant pieces of pork.
Other versions of the Shanghai hot sauce noodles were served with much more of the relish, a more concentrated spicy sauce and lots of hot oil floating on top. The picture of the version below was a vegetarian version with potato cubes, tofu and other veggies. The common denominator was the lajiang flavor of each version, including the recipe in this post!
La jiang is something that goes way back to my childhood, when I first tried babao lajiang (8 treasures sauce). It was not homemade and came straight out of a can! Quite different from an early recipe that Judy posted on our blog for a Spicy 8 Treasures stir-fry.
This canned version is actually somewhat similar in taste to the Shanghai hot sauce noodles recipe I’ve developed here, and would probably be a good quick meal if you can find it at a Chinese grocery store today.
That said, homemade is always better, so check out the recipe, and use our Chinese ingredients glossary if you have questions about the key ingredient: spicy bean sauce/paste, or doubanjiang.
Recipe Instructions
Blanch the cubed pork in boiling water for 30 seconds, drain, and rinse. Set aside. This keeps the final dish clear of any impurities/blood from the meat.
Fry the peanuts in the oil on low heat for 2 minutes…
Until they’re just starting to turn golden brown (be careful not to burn). More oil will be fried out of the peanuts, and the mixture will become fragrant.
Add the chili bean sauce to the peanuts and oil, and stir for 30 seconds to bring out the color of the red peppers in the sauce and infuse the oil, which is what you are looking for in this dish.
Next, add the onions and stir fry for 2 minutes on medium low heat until the onion begins to turn translucent.
Add the carrots, five spice tofu, and sugar, and stir-fry for another 3 minutes on medium heat.
Next, add 1 cup of chicken stock and the blanched pork and continue to stir fry until the liquid has evaporated (about 5 minutes).
Add another cup of stock and repeat the stir-frying again until the liquid has evaporated. This continuous stir-fry melds all the flavors together.
Add the remaining 4 cups of stock, and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low and simmer for another 30 minutes. Check the mixture every 5 minutes while simmering and give it a stir so the sauce on the side of the wok does not burn. The final la jing mian sauce should have a cup of liquid and lots of oil.
Boil the dried noodles according to package directions until al dente. Chewy noodles are always the best for soup!
Divide the noodles and sauce among four bowls. Season with a little bit of salt if needed, and then pour over the water that you used to cook the noodles to create the soup. (This is how it’s done traditionally, but alternatively, you can use more hot chicken stock as your soup).
Serve your Shanghai Hot Sauce Noodles garnished with chopped scallions.
If you’re cooking this Shanghai hot sauce noodles for yourself only, you can store the unused portions of the hot sauce (la jiang) in the refrigerator for another day. All you need to do the next day is to cook the noodles and broth, reheat the la jiang and put it right on top of the noodle soup for a quick and easy meal.
