Nigel Slater’s noodles with chilli tomato sauce

The warmth comes at you in waves – first from the steam rising from the noodles and their bubbling, brick-red sauce; then the crisp hit of the flaked dried chillies in oil – Lao Gan Ma – and lastly the deep warmth from the fresh, ripe chillies that have roasted with the tomatoes.

You could any use noodles for this, but the fat, starchy version such as Shanghai thick noodles feel most appropriate for such a rough-textured and robustly seasoned sauce.

Serves 3
tomatoes 750g
large red chillies 2
olive oil 5 tbsp
coriander 10g, a small bunch
Lao Gan Ma 2-4 tsp and to taste
fresh thick noodles 400g

Preheat the oven to 200C fan/gas mark 7. Put the tomatoes, large ones cut in half, into a roasting tin with the whole chillies and the olive oil. Season with salt and roast for 40-45 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and juicy and have coloured a little here and there.

Put a deep pan of water on to boil and salt it generously.

Using a blender, and taking great care not to overfill the jug, process the tomatoes and chillies, minus their stalks, to a thick puree. (Keeping some of the tomatoes back and mashing them with a fork will add a pleasingly rough texture to the dish.) Check the seasoning. Roughly chop most of the coriander leaves.

Stir 2 teaspoons of the Lao Gan Ma into the sauce, more if you like things very spicy. Drop the noodles into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, or according to packet instructions, then drain in a colander.

Toss with the tomato chilli sauce and the coriander leaves and pass a little pot of the Lao Gan Ma at the table.

This article was originally published on 19 September 2023