Veg hakka noodles is one of the most popular dishes of Indo-Chinese food, a cuisine in its own right. Veg hakka noodles, also called vegetable chow mein, is made by tossing boiled noodles and assorted stir-fried julienned vegetables in Chinese sauces like soya sauce and chilli sauce. This universally beloved and yummy street food is found everywhere in India—fast food joints, roadside stalls, food trucks, and restaurants.
Follow our simple, quick, and easy veg hakka noodles recipe and cook authentic restaurant-style veg hakka noodles right at home in your own kitchen. All you need are a few basic ingredients. You can whip up this delicious and flavourful noodle dish in less than half an hour.
Our street-style spicy vegetable hakka noodles recipe makes a great weeknight meal or a lazy weekend brunch. It’s also perfect for picnics, road trips, dinner parties, and for children’s lunch boxes.
Tips on how to make hakka noodles at home:
Make sure to do all the prep work before and line up all the ingredients, including the julienned vegetables and sauces, before you begin cooking. Because the dish is cooked very quickly, you will not have time to chop the vegetables once you begin cooking. You could also save time by cooking the noodles beforehand.
For best results, always cook the hakka noodles—or indeed any Indo-Chinese dish—on a very high flame.
For that yummy restaurant-like taste and texture, you need to toss and stir-fry the hakka noodles and vegetables together over a high flame quickly.
Use an oil with a high smoke point like peanut (ground nut), sunflower, or canola oil. This is important because vegetable hakka noodles is cooked over a very high flame.
To prevent the noodles from clumping together, toss with a little extra oil after draining. A little coating of oil after the noodles are boiled and drained helps prevent stickiness.
A single-handled fry pan or wok works very well for this dish. The single handle allows you to easily toss the noodles and veggies on a high flame.
If you have a cast iron wok or pan or kadhai, even better. It lends a wonderful smoky aroma to this hakka noodles recipe.
Make sure that the wok, pan, or kadhai is large enough for all the veg hakka noodles ingredients to be tossed and stirred around freely without falling out.
A pair of tongs or two spatulas used together are great to mix the noodles, so it’s worth investing in these cooking tools.
Don’t overcook the noodles while boiling. Cook them till they are al dente, that is, about 90 per cent done. They should be just cooked with a bite as they will cook some more during the stir-frying. You don’t want soft, mushy hakka noodles.
Drain and then rinse the cooked noodles in cold running water to remove excess starch and make them less sticky.
Veg hakka noodles is a highly versatile dish. You can customize it to suit your taste, adding your favourite vegetables and adjusting the hotness and spice levels.
The most commonly used vegetables in veg hakka noodles recipes are spring onion, carrot, French bean, mushroom, bell pepper / capsicum / Simla mirch (red, green, or yellow), and cabbage. For extra colour and texture, add baby corn, broccoli, bok choi, celery, or any other vegetable of your choice.
Make sure to julienne, or if you prefer, dice, all the vegetables about the same size so that they all cook evenly. Colourful bits of assorted veggies, all uniformly cut and shaped, nestling between swirls of noodles, make for an aesthetically pleasing and attractive dish.
Do not overcook the vegetables. You want them tender yet crunchy, with their natural taste and colours intact.
Enjoy this Chinese noodles recipe Indian style hot and fresh from the wok with your favourite spicy hot sauce like green chilli sauce, or condiments like vinegar, garlic sauce, red chili sauce, sriracha, and soya sauce. It’s best to use naturally fermented organic soy sauce if possible. It has the finest taste and most depth of flavor, and adds a wonderful umami taste to the dish.
Vegetable hakka noodles are substantial enough for a standalone meal. Or you can serve them with other Indo-Chinese favourites like veg Manchurian, chicken Manchurian, honey chicken, chilli paneer, chilli chicken, veg spring rolls, chilli potato, chicken fried rice, veg fried rice, sweet and sour fish, and sweet corn soup.
Hakka Noodles is a quick and delicious Indo-Chinese Dish. Learn how to make easy Veg Hakka Noodles Restaurant Style at Home with veg hakka noodles ingredients and cooking method from Yummefy Recipes
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