Liangpi-Chinese Cold Noodles

Today I am going to share with you a Chinese street food -Liangpi,one of my favorites.As the name suggests,it means Cold noodles.This is a refreshing dish to indulge in summer.But cold does not mean chilled,I guess it is the effect it has on us.After a meal of these delicious noodles I always feel so cool and refreshed.

There is one person who sells this dish in a small portable stall kind of setup.Every evening,be it any season,he is sure to be there.He arrives at around 3 pm each day and he brings along 3 foldaway tables and some chairs and places them near the stall on the pavement opposite to our apartment.

Soon the place is crowded and people pack them away if there is no place to sit.He is quite busy till he winds up the business for the day which is around 9-10 pm in summer.

It just takes a couple of minutes to rustle up the dish and no cooking needed!!!The dish is made of rice noodles,grated cucumber,tofu pieces and some sauces.The noodles[not like the dry ones we get in the store] comes like a sheet and he chops them into stands.He puts it into a large bowl with a handful of grated cucumber and tofu.Next in goes a variety of sauces which I guess must be soy sauce,chilli sauce,vinegar,a dash of sesame oil ,a little chilli paste,a bit of sesame seeds.One quick stir and the dish is ready to be served!!!

I always pass his stall when I go out and one fine days a couple of years ago boldly ordered a serving and bought it home and needless to say I was hooked.

This noodle is so famous out here and are very very cheap.Yes,it cost only RMB 2.5 for a serving and usually Ju and me share it.The portion size is that large!!Only if I am starved I will be able to finish it off all by myself.

The smoothness of the noodles,the crunchiness of the cucumber,the texture of the tofu all make this dish a huge hit!Many times I skip lunch just to eat these noodles coz at one time I was simple addicted to these noodles!Sometime I eagerly wait for him to start his business so that I can have this noodles and as a result of being his regular customer,he never lets me wait in the queue!!! Anyways,the people around also don’t mind if I jump the queue for they are delighted to see a ‘foreigner’ relish their local delicacy!

I am not sure if this is available in restaurants coz I have not seen them on any menu.It is typically a street food. He is not the only person selling these noodles.There are plenty of stalls like these all around the town and I found that each person tweaks the recipe just a little bit to add their personal touch.

So,if I was to summarize this dish it would be like this-Cool,refreshing,cheap and healthy.There is very little oil,has vegetable and tofu and its made of steamed noodles.How best can it get!!!

Are you wondering how this will taste in the freezing winter?Of course I eat this cold noodles even in winter but there is another way in which it is prepared with rice noodles as the base but with some other ingredients.Though I have tasted the winter variety this one is my pet.Eager to know more..Wait for a few days my dear friends and I will tell you more….