I learned about the Lao Gan Ma spicy chili crisp a couple of years back while food shopping at 99 Ranch, an Asian food grocer. They were doing a food demo on it and they just added this onto cooked vermicelli noodles and some shredded cabbage. The lady doing the demo assured me that I just needed this sauce to flavor it and nothing else. There was a crowd sampling it and later grabbing a bottle. So I picked up a bottle myself to take home.
I initially used this to season my Mapo Tofu and then actually forgot about it. Then my sister casually mentioned to me that is actually very popular among her Chinese friends. She was once served a noodle dish made of just this sauce and some bok choy. From then on I make sure I always have a bottle of this in the fridge since it also nicely season any stir fried dish.
A few months ago my daughter discovered this and asked me to help her make Lao Gan Ma noodles. I did a quick search on the web since I wanted to create a more saucy noodle dish and this is what I came up with. Note: For this recipe I used the Lao Gan Ma Chili Oil with Black Bean since I ran out of the spicy chili crisp.
First cook your noodles according to package directions. I used some dried soba noodles but you can use vermicelli, dried Chinese wheat noodles and I’ve also used angel hair pasta with much success for this recipe.
While noodles are cooking, prepare your sauce. Place 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil in a pan and add 3-4 minced garlic cloves. Cook until fragrant and just turning brown on the edges. Remove from heat and add a mixture of 2 Tablespoon Lao Gan Ma Chili Crisp , 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce, 1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar, 1 tsp. grated ginger. Stir until combined.
Take your noodles, drain and place in a bowl, then toss in a couple of tablespoons of your sauce until your noodles is evenly coated. You can season it with the sauce to suit your taste. I added spinach in mine but you can top it with some cilantro , green onions or even some steamed baby boy choy.
