Every twirl of liang mian manages to be both refreshing and hearty. The cold, lightly chewy noodles coated in a dark, earthy majiang (sesame paste) sauce are edged with satisfying sweetness, heat, and tang.
In China and Taiwan, the chilled, glossy strands are the antidote to sultry summer weather; they’re slurped up at noodle stalls and cafés and in home kitchens—you can even find them prepackaged at 7-Eleven—at every opportunity from lunch to midnight snacktime.
They’re hugely popular in many regions of the United States, too; Chinese restaurants tend to list them on their appetizer menus.
Many Chinese and Taiwanese Americans whip up liang mian when they want something that’s quick to the table: Just stir together a handful of ingredients to make the creamy dressing, boil and chill the noodles, grab a topping or two, and partake in the revivifying treat.
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Key Ingredient: Majiang (Sesame Paste)
Used widely in Taiwanese and Chinese kitchens, majiang, made by heavily roasting and milling unhulled sesame seeds, features robust, smoky-nutty earthiness and a rich, toasty aroma. The creamy deep-umber paste offers more complexity than tahini, which is typically made from untoasted seeds.
We find versions made from pure sesame to be superior; avoid those with added oil, stabilizers, or peanuts. If you have the time, invert the jar overnight to make it easier to stir in any separated oil with chopsticks
Enhancing the Dressing
To learn more about this simple, pleasurable dish, I got in touch with Cathy Erway, food writer and author of The Food of Taiwan (2015), who grew up eating liang mian.
Although Erway acknowledged that recipes for chilled sesame noodles are “very open-ended,” there are certain ingredients that almost everyone blends with majiang to make the dressing. Just about all include fresh grated ginger and malty black vinegar for invigorating brightness, soy sauce to season and add umami fullness, garlic and chili oil to bring savoriness and heat, sugar to round things out with a hint of sweetness, and a small amount of water to dilute the mix to an appropriate intensity.
After a few afternoons of tinkering, I landed on a composition that put the toasty majiang at the forefront, with the other components merging into a vivid background. The only roadblock? The dressing tended to separate and taste greasy on the palate.
I considered a few modern recipes I’d seen that incorporated a spoonful or two of creamy peanut butter or mayonnaise into the dressing. These inclusions had perplexed me at first, but now I understood: Commercial peanut butter and mayonnaise each contain a powerful emulsifier (in peanut butter, it’s mono- and diglycerides; in mayonnaise, lecithin.) Sure enough, a spoonful of mayo ensured that my dressing felt lush and silky.
Science: New Rules for Noodles
Cooking noodles for liang mian at a rolling boil can soften them too much and cause their surface starch to loosen and mix with the dressing, making the dish gummy. Rinsing is also detrimental, as it causes the noodles to absorb more water. The following changes make a big difference.
DON'T BOIL, SIMMER Gently cooking the noodles at a bare simmer (170 degrees) means that they absorb less water and release less starch on the exterior, so the dish doesn’t turn gluey.
DON'T RINSE, REFRIGERATE Rinsing cooked noodles makes them mushy. Instead, spread them on a baking sheet and transfer them to the fridge. The residual heat in the noodles will quickly evaporate excess moisture, keeping the noodles firm and lightly chewy.
As for the noodles, the fresh, eggless Chinese wheat kind are typical but not canonical. Dried pasta is acceptable to most cooks, including Erway’s mother, whose liang mian, Erway said, was a “highlight of backyard barbecues” and often consisted of “a spaghetti or a linguine, [so she] didn’t have to make a trip for wheat noodles from the Asian grocery store.”
Why You Should Cook Your Noodles at Roughly 170 Degrees
No matter which noodles you use—fresh or dried, Chinese or Italian—it’s vital to prepare them so as to maintain a gratifying, light chew, with just enough free starch on the surface to grip dressing. Most recipes suggest cooking the noodles at a rolling boil and rinsing them under a deluge of cold water.
The goal is to cook the noodles through and then rinse away sticky surface starch that leads to gumminess. But rinsing is a catch-22. Yes, it removes starch, but it also rapidly cools the noodles, so the water on their surfaces doesn’t evaporate, causing them to turn mushy.
Senior Science Research Editor Paul Adams explained that cooking noodles in water unsnarls their starch granules. The hotter the water, the more surface starch develops. I wondered what would happen if I cooked the noodles at a lower temperature. Instead of a rapid boil, I brought the water to the barest simmer—about 170 degrees rather than the usual 212. Sure enough, the cooler water minimized the formation of sticky surface starch, making rinsing unnecessary. This ultragentle approach also slowed down water absorption, leading to firmer noodles.
Customize Your Bowl
It’s easy to grace each helping of liang mian with a personal touch: You might spice it up with a dollop of chili crisp, make it more filling with chicken shreds or ham strips, and/or counter the rich dressing with cool, juicy julienned cucumber.
- Proteins: Omelet strips, shredded chicken, deli ham strips
- Vegetables: Blanched edamame, sliced red bell pepper, blanched bean sprouts, sliced avocado
- Extras: Cilantro sprigs, chili crisp, toasted sesame seeds
Dry-Chill Your Noodles Before Dressing
After cooking the noodles, I skipped the rinsing step and simply drained the noodles well, tossed them with toasted sesame oil, spread them onto a baking sheet, and popped them into the refrigerator.
With this dry-chilling approach, residual heat in the noodles quickly evaporated excess water, further decreasing their surface moisture. Adams pointed out that refrigeration also firms up the noodles via starch retrogradation, bolstering their appealing resiliency.
Some final advice: Keep a batch of dressing (use half as much garlic, as its flavor will intensify over time) in the fridge. Then, when a liang mian craving hits, it’s no sweat—just cook the noodles and tuck into a big bowl.
Liang Mian (Chilled Sesame Noodles)
Nutty, fragrant, and soothing, liang mian is a fresh, easy option for summer dining.
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