Hand-pulled Longevity Noodles with a Sesame Chili Sauce

I’m in shock that I was able to photograph these noodles while the Sun was shining because we’ve been living under a gloomy, wet, and unpredictable atmospheric river for what feels like years. Yesterday we experienced high-winds, heavy rain, hail, thunder, lightning, and a small pocket of blue skies of sunshine. It’s been wild. I’ve developed a minor obsessed with monitoring the doppler on my phone because I still don’t have the hang of artificial lighting and need to get these Lunar New Year recipes out to you!

Thankfully, these hand-pulled longevity noodles are ready for you to knead, twist, and pull! It is tradition to eat long noodles for Lunar New Year because they represent health and longevity. These noodles are particularly auspicious because they make super long noodles!

I had so much fun testing these noodles out and enjoy my fair share of thick and chewy noodle dinners. I was surprised how different making these noodles were compared to making biang biang style noodles. I knew I had to start out using bread flour for it’s protein content for strong gluten formation. But I found that just kneading the dough the traditional way produced a noodle that was just a tad thicker that I liked. I knew I could get it thinner. I found myself in a rabbit hole of hand-pulled noodle youtube videos and connected with the traditional dough twisting technique for making la mian.

After an initial knead to get the dough smooth, it is then rolled out into a long rope and then the two ends are twisted around each other, sort of like the stripes of a candy cane. The twisted dough is kneaded back together and the whole twisting and kneading process is repeated over and over again. Eventually the dough becomes much more elastic, allowing you to to pull the noodles into perfect noodles (not too thin or too thick).

Tips for the longest longevity noodles

1. Weight your flour and water! This is my general roll for all sorts of dough. Even the slightest variation of the flour to water ratio will change the consistency. If you don’t have a digital scale, make sure you fluff your flour first and don’t pack it into the measuring cup. Scoop and fluff!

2. Focus on firmly kneading the dough by stretching and almost tearing the dough apart against the counter, after a few minutes the dough will strengthen and it won’t want to tear as much. For the second knead, the twisting of the dough strengthens the direction of the gluten formations, which allows the noodles to stretch really long.

3. Allow plenty of time for the dough to rest. Once the dough is well oiled and coiled up, 2 hours will yield a really stretchy dough, but if you can rest the dough overnight or just a few hours longer, the better!

4. And this isn’t really a tip, but more advice for serving. The recipe makes 4 really long noodles. You can serve each noodle individually in bowls or nestled together on a platter family style. Things might get tangled but that’s just the fun of it!

Don’t stress if your noodles break at all. I know that it sounds like bad luck, but making noodles take practice. Part of a long happy life is accepting that not everything will be perfect right away, but with patience and determination things will work out.

Since the noodles require a bit of effort, I kept the sauce really simple. It is a blend of sesame paste, chili oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sugar, and just enough water to make it nice and creamy. I made this sauce with 3 different sesame pastes and tahini and they all required different amounts of water to get the right consistency, so keep that in mind! But if you rather use the noodles in a stir-fry or noodle soup, then go on ahead!

Hand-pulled Longevity Noodles with Sesame-Chili Sauce

Serves 4

Dough:

375g (3 cups) bread flour

1/2 tsp coarse salt

227g (1 cup) warm water (about 110 degrees)

2 tbsp canola oil, for coating

Sauce:

1/4 cup sesame paste (or tahini)

1 tbsp chili oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cup water

For serving:

Thinly sliced cucumber

Thinly sliced radish

Chopped cilantro

1. Knead the dough: In a large bowl, mix to combine bread flour and salt. Make a well in the center and add warm water. Mix with a flexible spatula to form a shaggy dough. Start kneading by hand in the bowl until all the dry bits of dough have been incorporated in the dough ball. Transfer to your counter and continue kneading by hand until you have a mostly smooth dough ball, 8 minutes. Really focus on firmly kneading the dough by stretching and almost tearing the dough apart against the counter, after a few minutes the dough will strengthen and it won’t want to tear as much. Cover the dough ball with a damp kitchen towel or place a bowl over it. Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

2. Knead the dough a second time: Roll out the dough into a 30” long rope. Fold the dough in half and twist either end of the dough around each other (like the stripes of a candy cane). Knead the dough until the two ends of dough become one again, while maintaining the direction of the rope, then roll the dough out into a 30” long rope and repeat the twisting and roll process about 8 more times. This process strengthens the direction of the gluten formations. Roll the dough out in a 16” rope one last time and then cut into 4 equal pieces. Cover the dough pieces with a damp kitchen towel and allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.

3. Drizzle oil over a rimmed sheet pan. Roll out each piece of dough into 30” (or longer if you can) ropes. Grease your hands with oil and roll up the dough into a coil on the sheet pan. Make sure to not roll up the coil too tight and that the surface of the dough, especially in between the coils, is well covered in oil to prevent sticking. Repeat with remaining dough and rub a little oil over top of the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest at room temperature for at least 2 hours. The longer you let the dough rest, the stretchier it will be. You can rest the dough in the fridge for up to 24 hours, just take the dough out 30 minutes before cooking to get the chill off.

4. If serving family style, in a large bowl or platter, whisk to combine sesame paste, chili oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil. While whisking, slowly drizzle in water until loose and creamy. The amount of water needed really depends on the sesame paste so you might not need the whole 1/2 cup of water. If serving individual bowls, whisk everything together in a glass measuring pitcher and divide the sauce into 4 bowls.

5. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Working with one coil of dough at a time, grab the end of the dough and stretch a section of dough to double or even almost triple its length. Pay attention to how the dough feels and stop stretching when you feel like the dough is at its limit. Lower the stretched portion of dough into the water. Continue this stretching process until the whole noodle is in the water. Boil the noodles for 1 minute and then transfer directly to the chili sesame sauce. Repeat with remaining noodles. 

6. Toss the noodles until fully coated and garnish with sesame seeds, cucumber, radish, and cilantro. Serve immediately while the sauce is beautiful and glossy.