These spicy chicken noodles feature a super rich broth with juicy chicken. Learn to use the steam braising method to cook a very flavorful chicken in much less time!
3 to 4tablespoonsdoubanjiangChinese fermented spicy chili bean paste, depending on your preferred level of spiciness
1/4teaspoonnutmeg, grated or ground
1daikon radish(or potato, or broccoli, chopped)
2small carrots, chopped
Instructions
Combine chicken, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, black pepper and salt in a large bowl. Mix well and marinate for 30 minutes.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat until warm. Add star anise, doubanjiang and nutmeg powder. Turn to medium low heat. Cook and stir for 1 minute.
Add chicken and mix so that both sides are coated with the sauce. Cook and flip occasionally, until both sides turn golden brown. While browning the chicken, stir the sauce frequently to prevent burning.
Add 1 cup of water, the daikon radish, and the carrot. Turn to medium heat. Bring to a boil. Turn to medium low heat. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Uncover, flip chicken, and mix the radish and carrot with the sauce. Cover and continue to cook until juice runs clean when poking the thickest part with a chopstick, for 5 to 10 minutes.
While simmering the chicken. Add 4 cups of water to another big pot (*see footnote 2). Add noodles and cook according to the instructions.
Transfer cooked noodles with noodle soup into the bowls you’ll serve them in. Add a few spoonfuls of sauce from the chicken stew. Top with chicken, radish, and carrot. Garnish with green onion.
Serve immediately as main.
Store leftover chicken with sauce in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days or in the freezer for a month. The leftovers taste even better.
Notes
I personally prefer to use a bone-in cut, because it infuses more flavor to the noodle soup. However, if you’re using bone-in, skin-on thigh, the chicken sauce will be a bit fatty, since the skin will yield a lot of fat. For a leaner noodle soup, you can: (1) Use chicken legs or boneless skinless thighs, OR (2) Use skin-on thighs but let the skin render fat first: Before proceeding to step 2, add chicken into the skillet, skin side down. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, or until the chicken skin turns slightly golden and is submerged in oil. Transfer the chicken to a plate and discard the oil.
If you are using a leaner and/or skinless cut, consider boiling chicken stock to cook the noodles and using the stock in the noodle soup, to enhance the flavor.