You could even choose to just add something other than broth to the noodles, such as soy sauce, bean paste (sometimes packaged with the noodles), a small amount of packaged flavoring, or vegetables (a small quantity is sometimes packaged with the noodles in dehydrated form; it can be reconstituted and picked or strained from the water).
Even more telling is April's Black Day, where singletons wear head-to-toe black and are obliged to eat jjajangmyun, a noodle dish with black bean paste -- all of this being a very subtle reference to their dark, loveless hearts, presumably.
I sampled the divine "Beijing noodle," which came topped with minced pork cooked with salty soy bean paste.
The Dan Dan noodles, springy and toothsome, with a funky, savory sauce of fermented bean paste and ground pork — an earthy proto-Bolognese — remind you that pasta originated in China, not Italy.
WHAT WE LIKE Sponge gourd with deep-fried dough sticks, fish in winey sauce, Shanghai wonton, spicy beef noodle soup, Yang-Chow fried rice, fish gluten with salty egg yolk, green bean paste with coconut milk.
I gave my chicken livers a bit more heft, with a flat noodle pasta, using black olive paste for salty bite.
Christina is a renowned chef, author and spice expert, running The Spice Merchant's Cooking School in Seattle, where she resides, while also traveling the country demonstrating how to incorporate Malaysian products such as chile sauces, organic noodles, curry pastes and more into everyday cooking.
The South Koreans created versions of several other foods for Mr. Ko's mission, including instant noodles, hot pepper paste, fermented soybean soup and sticky rice.
We had sesame paste noodles (8 renminbi, or $1.30 at 6.1 renminbi to the dollar) at Wei Xiang Zhai; soup dumplings at their favorite place, Nanjing Tang Bao (which has Nanjing-style dumplings similar to xiao long bao; eight for 7 renminbi); and Macao-style Portuguese egg tarts (4 renminbi) from Lillian Bakery.
Other necessities include peanut oil, nearly as healthy as olive oil but better tasting with Asian food (keep the oil refrigerated); hoisin and ground bean sauces, the sweet, spicy, soybean pastes that form the basis of the quickest noodle toppings; and chili paste, a fast, convenient way to add heat to any dish.
