Believe it or not, in all my years of professional cooking, I had never used Chinese black vinegar!
I have always been curious about it, but up until now, I had never come across any recipes that required me to go out and purchase a bottle. I was recently watching an episode of America’s Test Kitchen, and the chef was preparing Chinese biang biang noodle recipe with an infused chili oil-based sauce that included black vinegar. It looked so delicious and inspired me to make the recipe and learn about a new ingredient.
Chinese black vinegar is an umami-packed, rice-based, fermented vinegar that’s characterized by its complex and rich flavors. The vinegar is aged for a minimum of six months, traditionally in clay pots, which gives it its dark color and creates a flavor profile of umami (savoriness), smokiness and sweetness with balanced acidity. Additional grains may be used in combination with the glutinous rice, so check the list of ingredients if you’re gluten intolerant.
Chinese black vinegar is very different from its Western counterparts such as red wine, white distilled and apple cider vinegars. These vinegars are often made from other grains and fruits, and tend to be much sharper and acidic, and lack the umami complexity of Chinese black vinegar.
There are four main styles of Chinese black vinegar, and each one is unique to where and how it’s made. But don’t worry - you don’t need all four varieties because they are, for the most part, interchangeable. The most well-known black vinegar is called Zhenjiang (also known as Chinkiang vinegar) named after the city where it’s produced. It’s most commonly used in dips for dumplings, sauces for noodle dishes, soups (think hot and sour soup) and stir fries. It’s safe to say that any dish you add black vinegar to will be transformed!
Black vinegar can be found at your local Asian market or can be purchased online, and the brand of Chinkiang vinegar I recommend is Gold Plum. If you can’t find black vinegar, you can use balsamic vinegar in a pinch because it is also an aged, dark-colored vinegar, but keep in mind that balsamic is made from grapes and black vinegar is made from cooked glutinous rice. Like other vinegars, black vinegar does not need to be refrigerated, so keep it in your pantry.
Because there are so many ways to use Chinese black vinegar, I had to narrow down what recipes I wanted to feature in this blog. I decided on a simple dipping sauce to accompany store-bought dumplings and a sauce to dress a Dan Dan noodle recipe. Dan Dan noodles are a popular Sichuan dish comprised of wheat noodles tossed in a spicy sauce with pickled vegetables, crispy pork and scallions. When looking online for Dan Dan noodle recipes, I came across several variations but what caught my eye was the simplicity of the recipe from i am a food blog. This version is vegetarian and very approachable because it features just the noodles tossed with the sauce, which is perfect for a quick weeknight meal. I took a field trip over to H Mart, which is always so fun, loaded up on the necessary ingredients, and got to work.
The first step in making this “stripped down” version of Dan Dan noodles is to prepare the sauce. In a mixing bowl (ideally the bowl that you’ll be using to toss your cooked noodles), whisk together the ingredients:
Chinese Sesame Paste: Similar to tahini, this sesame paste is made from toasted and ground sesame seeds which gives the paste a darker color, and a rich, nutty flavor. You can use tahini paste in a pinch, but the flavor will not be as strong. When I went to H Mart, I opted for the small jar that was a sesame-peanut paste combo because while there were jars that were 100% sesame paste, they were huge and I didn’t want to buy a large quantity. The sesame-peanut combo worked great!
Chili Crisp: This delicious, umami and spicy-packed condiment is a mixture of chili flakes, dehydrated shallots, garlic and chili oil. My go to brand is Lao Gan Ma, and it’s excellent mixed into dipping sauces and used as a condiment. Read more about chili oil and chili crisp at The Woks of Life, my go-to blog for anything and everything Chinese-food related. If you want to try making your own, read Chef Kelly’s blog for the recipe or attend our new Hot and Spicy: Fiery Asian Flavors class in June (see dates at the end of this blog).
In addition to the Chinese sesame paste and the chili crisp, whisk in soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar and minced garlic. Set your sauce aside while cooking the noodles.
Noodles, noodles and even more noodles! I was looking for fresh, refrigerated wheat noodles for this recipe, and H Mart had such a dizzying, massive selection. They had all the noodles you could possibly imagine for Korean, Japanese, Thai and Chinese cuisine.
After collecting myself and regaining my focus, I found a section that specifically contained fresh Chinese wheat noodles, but there were so many varieties within that section! I actually found a package labeled Dan Dan noodles, and I almost purchased them, but I’m a big fan of wide noodles so I opted for those instead. Same ingredients, just a wider and flatter noodle. If you can’t find fresh, wheat noodles, you can sub in spaghetti, fettuccine, linguine, udon or even rice noodles.
Once the noodles were boiled and cooked through, I used my tongs to lift the noodles out of the water and placed them right into the bowl of sauce. I tossed them until combined, and ended up adding a couple splashes of the noodle cooking water because the starch from the noodles thickened the sauce a bit too much. Top with toasted sesame seeds and serve with some extra chili crisp on the side, and you have some seriously delicious and spicy noodles.
I served our simplified version of Dan Dan noodles with some braised baby bok choy and pot stickers.
Dan Dan Noodles
Adapted from i am a food blog
Yield: 3-4 servings
Active time: 15 minutes
Start to finish: 15 minutes
2 tablespoons Chinese sesame paste
1/4 cup chili crisp
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup black vinegar
4 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
12 ounces fresh, wheat noodles
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish
Additional chili crisp, as needed
- To prepare the sauce, whisk together the sesame paste, chili crisp, soy sauce, black vinegar, sugar and garlic in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, and cook the noodles until they are tender.
- Using tongs, lift the noodles right out of the pot, place them in the bowl with the sauce and toss well. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of the noodle cooking water.
- Serve topped with toasted sesame seeds and extra chili crisp on the side.
I whipped up a quick and easy dipping sauce for the dumplings that was made up of the following:
2 Tablespoons Chinese black vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon chili crisp
2 teaspoons ginger, freshly grated
1 teaspoon sesame seeds, toasted
3 tablespoons water
Now that I have a bottle of Chinese black vinegar in my pantry, I’m excited to put it to use and see how it transforms my food!
If you love spicy, Asian cuisine, don’t miss our new class Hot and Spicy: Fiery Asian Flavors this June. Join us on Wednesday, June 11at 6pm or Friday, June 20 at 6pm. You’ll be making:
- Vietnamese Pork Lettuce Wraps with Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Chili Pepper Dipping Sauce)
- Kimchi Jjigae (Korean Soup with Kimchi, Tofu, Korean Chili Flakes and Gochujang)
- Lo Mein with Homemade Chili Crunch, Scallions and Sesame
- Spicy Green Shrimp Thai Curry with Jasmine Rice
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