Homemade refreshing cold noodles in summer! Tips for choosing safe ingredients

According to weather reports, the temperature has been above 37 degrees for the past few days. If you leave the air-conditioned room for more than five minutes, you will be steamed instantly by the heat. In such hot weather, I have no appetite for the soups in the snack stalls. I just want to eat refreshing food such as cold noodles to whet my appetite. However, if I buy cold noodles outside, I am afraid of getting an upset stomach or excessive E. coli. Why not learn how to make chilled cold noodles at home and check the ingredients yourself for the best safety.

Under the refreshing appearance, there is a high calorie count: sesame sauce cold noodles

Leaving aside those cold noodles with a difficulty level of more than three stars, such as kimchi cold noodles and handmade buckwheat cold noodles, what I’m going to share with you today is the basic cold noodle dish: “Sesame paste cold noodles”!

The origin of sesame sauce cold noodles is not small. It is said that it is a dish handed down from the period of Wu Zetian in the Tang Dynasty. In the summer in northern China, almost every household will have a plate of sesame sauce cold noodles to cool down. It is easy to make and can be eaten cool. A plate of classic sesame sauce cold noodles must of course include fragrant sesame sauce, minced garlic, vinegar, and shredded cucumber. It is common to see some white sesame seeds or shredded carrots sprinkled on top.

But here comes the point. Cold noodles are essentially "oil noodles". The noodles are fried during the production process, so the calories are definitely higher than other noodles. In addition, some stores will add peanut powder to the sesame paste and mix it well. Peanut powder is a big calorie mine. Cold noodles with so many calorie mines in them must not have low calories. That is why if you can DIY cold noodles at home, you can control the proportion of ingredients yourself and reduce calorie intake without reducing the deliciousness!

DIY sesame sauce cold noodles, reduce the amount of noodles by half and add more vegetables to make it lighter!

Buckwheat noodles are lower in calories and higher in dietary fiber than oily noodles.

Taking the Chinese cold noodles (with spicy garlic sauce) commonly sold in convenience stores as an example, one serving has about 433 calories and over 1,000 mg of sodium. Although making your own noodles is too difficult, we can reduce the amount of noodles we consume or choose soba noodles or konjac noodles instead. As for the sauce, if you want to eat something lower in salt, you can use the refreshing taste of Japanese soy sauce + grated white radish instead of sesame paste. If you still like the flavor of sesame paste, you can add a little less peanut powder when making the sauce, or even add it without any peanut powder!

【Cold noodles sesame sauce recipe】

1. First, mix sesame paste with boiling water in equal proportions.

2. Add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar

3. 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp sugar

4. Add mashed garlic

Sesame paste is high in calories, so if you’re worried about losing your figure during the summer, remember to eat it in moderation!

In addition, if you are worried that you will not feel full if you reduce the amount of noodles, then make up for it with vegetables! Cold noodles contain a lot of carbohydrates, and the amount of vegetables in commercially available cold noodles is obviously insufficient. When you make your own cold noodles, you can add as many vegetables as you want. In addition to cucumbers and shredded carrots, you can also add fresh tomato slices, blanched cauliflower, or peas and eggs to increase protein; the dietary fiber content and satiety will be increased!

Tips for choosing cucumbers!

1. Choose straight and uniform-sized ones, and avoid curved ones.

2. The thorns on the surface should be obvious, and the texture should be elastic and not soft.

3. The greener the color, the better.

★★Melons are all cold in nature. People with weak constitution are not suitable to eat cucumbers raw. It is best to cook them before eating. Or when eating cucumbers raw, you can add ginger and garlic to balance the cold nature of cucumbers.

Tips for choosing carrots!

1. Smooth skin

2. Naturally dark orange, avoid carrots with green around the stem

3. The appearance is complete without cracks and the ends are not forked

By making your own cold noodles, you can avoid the risk of unknown sources of ingredients and unhygienic handling, and you can customize the portion and vegetable content of the cold noodles. Isn’t that great? Prepare the ingredients and make a bowl of refreshing and light cold noodles at home this weekend!