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You can make Chinese-style knife-shave/knife-cut noodles (dao xiao mian) with only 3 ingredients at home. I’m also sharing a delicious spicy garlic sesame sauce to toss with the noodles. They can be a delicious side dish or turn into a complete meal.
My first exposure dao xiao mian was in Singapore. I ordered it at a food-court (at Food Republic if I’m not mistaken) with a friend and I was always amazed by the person who are shaving the noodle dough in front of me. He was doing it in such a fast speed! The dao xiao mian was served as a noodle soup. Then when my mom came to visit few years ago, she brought a big pack of dried knife-cut noodles that she bought in Singapore. She made this amazing spicy garlic sesame sauce to toss the noodles in and I was hooked ever since.
What is dao xiao mian
Dao xiao mian is Shanxi specialty. Don’t mistaken this with the hand-pulled noodles (La Mian or Biang Biang Noodles). Knife-cut/knife-shave noodles aren’t pulled by hands. Instead, a person would hold a block of thick dough at an angle on one hand and the other hand is a very sharp cleaver to shave the noodles directly into a pot of boiling water.
Then not too long ago, our local Asian grocery store also carry this dried dao xiao mian and I quickly grabbed like two packs. My kids love dao xiao mian ever since they tasted grandma’s.
Dried dao xiao mian
You don’t need special knife-shaving skill
A professional chef can produce more than 200 shaved noodles in less than a minute! (wowza!!). They use a special knife that is made for this and extremely sharp. Me, on the other hand, no matter how sharp I sharpened the knife, it just won’t do LOL! So, instead of shaving the noodles directly into a pot of boiling water, I have to slice/cut the noodles, which, still fit into the idea of dao xiao mian 🙂
The noodles are soft and slightly chewy, which my kids really enjoy. They love it with the sauce so much!
The spicy garlic sesame tossing sauce is really good
It is slightly spicy (or you can make it spicier), savory, slightly tangy and it’s so good not only with dao xiao mian, but with any wheat-based noodles. I usually double the recipe as it can be kept in the fridge for a week. It can be kept frozen for up to one month. Simply thaw in the fridge before using.
How to make dao xiao mian at home
1. Mix flour with salt.
2. Add half of the water and start mixing. The dough will feel very dry at first. Gradually add water and keep mixing. For my case, even after I added all the water, the dough is still a bit at a dry side and there are still loose flour bits, but don’t be tempted to add more water just yet. Keep kneading and try to knead into a rough dough ball. If it’s still won’t come together, add 1 Tbsp of water and knead again. This was all the water I need
3. The dough is very rough and at a dry side, but as long as it can comes together into one dough ball, don’t add anymore water
4. Cover and let this very shaggy dough rest for 20 minutes. This is the first rest and is called as an “autolyse” method. A short autolyse. The water and flour are doing their magic work here and you’ll be surprised by the result in just 20 minutes
5. After 20 minutes, uncover and give the dough a few kneads and you’ll be surprised by how smooth the dough has become now and it’s no longer dry too. Remember that shaggy dough earlier? Gotta love autolyse!
6. After a few kneads and the dough is all smooth. Cover it again for second rest, about 30 minutes. This is the last rest actually, in case you are wondering
7. Knead the dough for a few times and you will notice that the dough is even smoother and flexible by now. If you gently press on it, it will gradually spring back too.
8. Divide the dough into two. work with one at a time and keep the rest covered so it won’t dry out
9. Bring a large pot of water to a boil while cutting the noodles.Dust your work surface with flour. Dust the dough surface and rolling pin with some flour too. Roll it out into about 7 x 5 inch rectangle, about 1 inch thick. Use a very sharp knife to cut on the dough, into about 1/8-inch thick (about 3 mm). This is not meant to be a long noodles
10. Sprinkle and toss with some flour generously to prevent the noodle strands from sticking to each other
11. Add the noodles to the boiling water. Stir once to prevent the noodles from sticking, but don’t stir too much so you won’t break the noodles into tiny pieces. Let them cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. They don’t take long to cook
12. Remove the noodles from the pot into a heat-proof colander.
13. Drain off all cooking water and refresh the noodles with clean water. This is to stop the cooking process
14. For the sauce: Put all ingredients for the sauce in a heat-proof bowl, except for the 5 tablespoons of oil. It has to be heat-proof because we will be pouring hot oil over the ingredients later
15. Heat up the 5 tablespoon of oil on a pan until you start seeing smoke rising. Turn off the heat and make sure no one is near by (especially kids) and immediately pour this hot oil over the ingredients and they will sizzle quite a bit but will settle down. Set it aside to let it cools down. The sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to one week
16. You can portion the noodles out into serving bowl and toss with about 2-3 tablespoon of the sauce or to your taste. You can also toss all the noodles you cook with the sauce in a big batch and then portion out for individual serving
And there you have it…knife-cut noodles with some amazing sauce, hopefully, you will enjoy eating. It’s your labor of love 🙂 Though I must say it’s not too bad of a labor, is it?
You can make the dough ahead
After the second resting, the dough can be kept wrapped well in a cling wrap and store in the fridge for about 2-3 days. Simply get the dough out from the fridge about 30 minutes before you plan to start working on the dough
How to store cooked dao xiao mian
It is best to store the noodles and the sauce separately
1. Let the cooked dao xiao mian cooled down completely
2. Simply reheat in a microwave for a few seconds until warm
3. You can also reheat in boiling water for just a few seconds
What to serve with dao xiao mian
You can toss it in any sauce like in this recipe to be served as a side. You can also make it into a complete meal by adding some protein such as fried egg, soft-boiled egg, shredded leftover chicken. You can also add some blanched greens such as bok choy, broccoli, choy sum.
You may also like these homemade noodles
The Best Homemade Flat Rice Noodles / Hor Fun / Kway Teow (From Scratch)
How To Make Loh Shi Fun Noodles From Scratch (Silver Pin Noodles)
Homemade Wonton Noodles (Mee Pok / Mee Kia) – from scratch
Did you make this recipe?
I love it when you guys snap a photo and tag to show me what you’ve made 🙂 Simply tag me @WhatToCookToday #WhatToCookToday on Instagram and I’ll be sure to stop by and take a peek for real!
Easy Homemade Chinese Knife-Shave Noodles (Dao Xiao Mian)
Ingredients
Noodle dough:
- 500 gr all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 250 ml water or more as needed
- ½ tsp salt
Spicy garlic sesame tossing sauce: (enough for this one recipe)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 stalks green onion white parts
- 2 Tbsp white sesame seeds toasted
- 1 Tbsp chili flakes more or less to your taste
- 4 Tbsp soy sauce
- 1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar or use regular vinegar
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- 5 Tbsp cooking oil with high smoke point
Garnishes:
- green onion green parts, finely chopped
- Fresh cilantro leaves
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
- Mix flour with salt. Add half of the water and start mixing. The dough will feel very dry at first. Gradually add water and keep mixing. For my case, even after I added all the water, the dough is still a bit at a dry side and there are still loose flour bits, but don't be tempted to add more water just yet. Keep kneading and try to knead into a rough dough ball. If it's still won't come together, add 1 Tbsp of water and knead again. This was all the water I need. You may need a bit more extra (all this depends on the humidity level and the type of flour you use). The dough is very rough and on the dry side, but as long as it can come together into one dough ball, don't add anymore water
First rest - 20 minutes: (DO NOT skip)
- Cover and let this very shaggy dough rest for 20 minutes. This is the first rest and is called as an "autolyse" method. A short autolyse. The water and flour are doing their magic work here and you'll be surprised by the result in just 20 minutes
Knead briefly:
- After 20 minutes, uncover and give the dough a few kneads and you'll be surprised by how smooth the dough has become now and it's no longer dry too. Remember that shaggy dough earlier? Gotta love autolyse!
Second rest - 30 minutes:
- After a few kneads and the dough is all smooth. Cover it again for second rest, about 30 minutes. This is the last rest actually, in case you are wondering 😉
Prepare the tossing sauce if you like:
- Put all ingredients for the sauce in a heat-proof bowl, except for the 5 tablespoons of oil. It has to be heat-proof because we will be pouring hot oil over the ingredients later
- Heat up the 5 tablespoon of oil on a pan until you start seeing smoke rising. Turn off the heat and make sure no one is near by (especially kids) and immediately pour this hot oil over the ingredients and they will sizzle quite a bit but will settle down. Set it aside to let it cools down. Have a taste and adjust to your preference. The sauce can be kept in the fridge for up to one week
Back to the noodle dough:
- Knead the dough for a few times and you will notice that the dough is even smoother and flexible by now. Divide the dough into two. work with one at a time and keep the rest covered so it won't dry out
- Dust your work surface with flour. Dust the dough surface and rolling pin with some flour too. Roll it out into about 1 inch thick
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil while cutting the noodles. Use a very sharp knife (preferably a cleaver) to cut on the dough, into about 1/8-inch thick (about 3 mm). You can cut on the long or short side of the dough. The noodles won't be as long as regular noodles. Sprinkle and toss with some flour generously to prevent the noodle strands from sticking to each other
- Once you are done, you can proceed with the second dough or wrap it well and keep it in the fridge for 2-3 days. Then let it come to room temperature for about 30 minutes before you plan to start cutting the noodles
Cook the noodles:
- Add the noodles to the boiling water. Stir once to prevent the noodles from sticking, but don't stir too much so you won't break the noodles into tiny pieces. Let them cook for about 1 to 1 1/2 minutes. They don't take long to cook
- Remove the noodles from the pot into a heat-proof colander. Drain off all cooking water and refresh the noodles with clean water. This is to stop the cooking process
- The noodles can be served with soup, toss with a sauce, or use them to make stir-fried noodles
Toss the noodles with the sauce:
- Recommended: You can portion the noodles out into serving bowl and toss with about 2-3 tablespoon of the sauce or to your taste.
- If you are quite certain that you won't have leftover, you can also toss all the noodles you cook with the sauce in a big batch and then portion out for individual serving
- Garnish with chopped green onion and fresh cilantro leaves if you want
15 comments
This is great. I made this with no experience and it was amazing. I add ginger to it and it made it even better. It would probably taste great with a fried egg on top.
So good to know that Elena! Thank you for your feedback!
Can I make this with wheat flour? My mom is a all purpose flour hater ideky so yes I absolutely love noodles and she doesn’t lemme have then coz not wheat
Whole wheat is healthier, but I haven’t tried making this noodles all whole wheat flour. You may need to add more water as whole wheat flour is thirstier. The texture might be crumblier too.
Trying to make the dough stick together with the recommended amount of water….I can never do it, even with the extra TBSP. What am I doing wrong?
I don’t think you are doing anything wrong. The amount of water needed also depends on the type of the flour you use and the humidity level. You may need more than extra tbsp sometimes, you may need less. If it’s still too dry even after adding an extra tbsp of water, you sure can add a bit more until you can get a rough dough.