Indo-Chinese at Home: The Sauces and Techniques Behind Great Noodles and Manchurian
The sauces to keep in your kitchen and the high-heat techniques that make hakka noodles, fried rice and manchurian taste like the street stall.
Why home Indo-Chinese often falls flat
The difference between a stall and your kitchen is mostly heat and sauce. Street wok cooking is fast and fierce, and the sauces are balanced and prepared in advance.
Sauces worth keeping ready
- Schezwan sauce: garlicky and hot; the base for fried rice and noodles.
- Sweet chilli sauce: glaze for crispy starters like honey chilli potato.
- Soy sauce, vinegar and chilli sauce: the seasoning trio for gravies.
- Ginger-garlic, finely chopped: the first thing to hit the hot oil.
Technique tips
- Heat the pan until it is very hot before adding oil.
- Cook in small batches so vegetables fry instead of steaming.
- Undercook noodles slightly and rinse them to stop cooking.
- Add sauces at the end, along the edge of the pan, so they sizzle.
Try these recipes
Start with our Veg Hakka Noodles, Veg Manchurian and Homemade Schezwan Sauce recipes, or join the Chinese Cooking Class in Nadiad.