| By: Iris Jiang |
This noodle is the most consistent dish that I grew up with, always appearing on my family’s dinner table and serving as the favorite noodle of me and my sister. It is very easy to make, yet tastes amazingly delicious as it combines the two most popular and widespread dishes with “Lu”, or gravy, poured on top of the hand-rolled noodles for a delightful meal.
Moreover, if you are not a big fan of noodles, the two “Lu” dishes go equally well with steamed white rice, forming another meal balancing carbohydrates, protein and a moderate amount of fat.
Ingredients
Yield: 2 servings
For Tomato Scrambled Egg “Lu”:
1 tomato
2 eggs
Mashed garlic in moderation
3g salt
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
For Mapo Tofu “Lu”:
1 pack (400g) of soft tofu
1 teaspoon of Mapo Tofu sauce
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
For Noodles:
1000g of water
400g of fresh noodles (thick)
Cooking Instructions
We can start on either one of the “Lu”, so let us start with tomato scrambled egg. We first need to remove the stem and the skin of the tomato.
Cut the tomato into half-inch wide wedges.
In a mixing bowl, crack two eggs, and then beat the eggs until the yolks and the whites are combined thoroughly. Add 1 teaspoon of salt into the mixture.
Heat the pan over high heat until the surface is hot; pour 2 teaspoons of oil; and pour the egg mixture into the pan, slightly tilting the pan around so the egg liquid spreads evenly over the pan.
Use chopsticks to stir the semi-liquid egg mixture constantly so it will begin to clump together.
Cook the egg until it is firm and quickly transfer the scrambled egg onto a serving plate.
Stir-fry the tomatoes until they are soft and form a gravy-like texture. Put the scrambled egg into the tomato gravy and mix the egg and the tomatoes.
Next, we will make the Mapo Tofu. This is going to be very easy because these days people just use Mapo Tofu sauce directly, so they do not have to mix a variety of individual sauces in the right proportion to form the taste.
We open a pack of soft tofu and cut it into chunks. It does not need to be cut that perfectly as we will also beat it into a gravy-like texture in the cooking pan.
Heat the pan over medium-high heat and scoop a teaspoon of Mapo Tofu sauce. Stir-fry the sauce for a short while.
Gently slide the soft tofu into the pan and stir the tofu so the sauce can be thoroughly applied over it.
Crush the tofu into smaller pieces and bring it to a boil. At this time, the tofu will become a gravy-like texture.
Simmer another 2 minutes and serve it onto a plate.
Finally, we boil 1000 grams of water in a pot and put 400 grams of hand-rolled noodles into the pot. Let them sit in the boiling water for 3 minutes and then transfer them from the water onto a serving plate.
Enjoy your Da-Lu noodles with tomato scrambled egg and Mapo Tofu!
Notes
Be sure to turn on the fan above the kitchen stove when cooking Mapo Tofu, because the sauce can have a very strong smell and make the kitchen full of smoke.
Avoid putting the lid of the pot on top when boiling the noodles because the foam generated by the noodle will rise and cause leakage through the top.
If you don’t like noodles (though I wonder if anyone really would feel this way), you can also have the two “Lu”s (gravies) served over steamed rice.
Boil the noodle last because after it is cooked, the noodles tend to stick together, so it should be quickly mixed with the “Lu”.
For Mapo Tofu, you can also add ground pork, beef or chicken for more flavors and a richer taste.
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