Vegan Bunny Elle

Turn any leafy greens into… a bowl of noodles! This unique Chinese street food is such an ingenious invention by the people, for the people. It’s incredibly easy and affordable to make yet unforgettably delicious.

Leaf noodle, or battered leaf, is a popular street food in Northwestern China, especially in the Shan Xi province and surrounding area. The origin of this invention is unclear. It’s one of those folk inventions that was created among the people, has a long-standing history, but no one can really pinpoint exactly when and who was responsible for such ingenuity. I cannot express enough how much I admire inventions like this, it turns the most humble ingredients into the most unexpected and spectacular treat.

Traditionally, it’s made by coating leafy vegetables or wild greens with a wheat-based or bean flour based batter. Bean flour is yet another tradtional Chinese food. It’s usually made of soy bean flour, mung bean flour, or a mixture of both with wheat flour. As it’s quite difficult to find bean flour outside of Asia, I tweaked the tradtional recipe a little so we can still appreciate and enjoy this clever treat anywhere we are.

The battered leaves are cooked very quickly and briefly in rolling hot water, and they’d turn into tender, glistening, silky “noodles”, then you can pair them with whatever sauce you like – hot and sour, sizzling chili oil, sweet soy sauce… the flavor possibility is endless.

Chinese Street Food – Battered Leaf Noodles in Chili Oil

Make this ingenious Chinese street food with any leafy greens! You’ll get a quick meal or snack that’s delicious, nutrious, and beyond affordable.

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Ingredients Method Video Notes

Ingredients

  

• 150 g all purpose flour + extra flour for dusting
• 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed
• 1 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 bunch of spinach
• For the sauce-
• 2 tablespoon chili oil see note for homemade method
• 1 tablespoon vegan mushroom “oyster” sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar

Method

 

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and ground flaxseed, then slowly pour in the water while gently stirring the batter, until it’s smooth and lump-free, let the batter rest for 30 minutes;
2. Prep the spinach, or other types of leafy greens you want to use, wash them thoroughly, trim off the long stems if any, then dry completely, make sure there’s no water droplets left on the leaves otherwise the batter won’t adhere well to them;
3. Lay the leaves on your cooking surface, lightly dust them with some flour, shake off any excess;
4. When the batter is rested and you’re ready to cook, bring a large pot of water to boil, take one leaf, quickly drag in the batter to coat both sides of the leaf, shake off any excess batter, then drop into the boiling water, repeat with the rest of the leaves;
5. Don’t overcrowd your pot, you can cook the leaves in batches;
6. The battered leaves will cook very quickly, they’ll float to the surface within 15-20 seconds, once the whole batch of leaves are all floating to the surface, strain them out with a strainer or slotted spoon, transfer to a bowl, then cook your next batch;
7. Mix the sauce ingredients and pour onto the leaf noodles right before serving, serve the noodles hot do not let them stand for too long, enjoy!

Video

Notes

For the chili oil, feel free to use any store-bought ones you like. But if you’d like to try making it yourself, follow along this recipe, it takes very little time to make the the aroma is sooo satisfying!