Hot dry noodles (Chinese: 热干面 pinyin rè gān miàn), also known as reganmian, is a traditional dish of Wuhan, the capital of the Hubei province in central China. "Reganmian" has a long history in Chinese food culture for 80 years. It is a typical breakfast food in Wuhan, and is often sold in street carts in residential area. The recipe for hot dry noodles is different from cold noodles and noodles in soup. Firstly mix the cooked noodles with oil and dry them. When one person is about to eat the noodles, scald the prepared noodles in boiled water, mix them with condiments, and the noodles will be ready to eat. The finished hot dry noodles are firm and chewy, golden and oily, savory and fresh. It is made of noodles called jianmian (碱面) with a mixture of sauces and dried vegetables. Many stalls that making reganmian will have their own variations in seasoning, creating signature tastes for individual stands or localities. Reganmian restaurants stand all over the city. Among them, Cai Lin Ji is the most time-honored. Established in 1930, Cai Lin Ji survives much competition and wins the current reputation with its selected materials and refined processing techniques. The typical bowl of reganmian will have soy sauce, sesame paste, pickled vegetables, chopped garlic chives and chili oil. Reganmian is a popular local breakfast sold in road-side stalls or from push-carts. Reganmian is popular for locals for every season of the year as breakfast, lunch, dinner or just a snack. Wuhan's reganmian, along with Shanxi's daoxiaomian (knife-cut noodles), Liangguang's yifumian, Sichuan's dandanmian, and northern China's zhajiangmian, are collectively referred to as "China's five famous noodles." Breakfasts such as Reganmian are available from as early as 5am and are served until midnight (breakfast turns into snacks at night) in Wuhan. The noodle is inexpensive thus remaining as a popular breakfast choice in Wuhan. A bowl of Reganmian can cost as little as RMB1.
Read more about Hot Dry Noodles: Cooking Method, Origin, Variety
Famous quotes containing the words hot and/or dry:
“Good-night to the Season!—the dances,
The fillings of hot little rooms,
The glancings of rapturous glances,
The fancyings of fancy costumes;
The pleasures which Fashion makes duties,
The praisings of fiddles and flutes,
The luxury of looking at beauties,
The tedium of talking to mutes;”
—Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839)
“The Plains are not forgiving. Anything that is shallow—the easy optimism of a homesteader; the false hope that denies geography, climate, history; the tree whose roots don’t reach ground water—will dry up and blow away.”
—Kathleen Norris (b. 1947)