🍽️ Cold Rice Noodle

Cold rice noodles with sweet-savory sauce.

Cold Rice Noodle is a classic summer cooler of Yuxi in central Yunnan. Thick rice noodles are boiled then rinsed in cold water to stay springy, tossed with sweet-savory soy sauce, sesame paste, garlic water and chili oil, then topped with minced pork, shredded cucumber, pickled greens and crisp fried fungi. One chopful brings sour, sweet, salty, spicy and aromatic all at once, the noodles icy and slippery. Yuxi locals pair a bowl of cold noodles with papaya jelly water in summer, the most common street-side cooling combo. Compared with Kunming's version, the Yuxi dressing is sweeter and rounder. The recipe is simple but depends entirely on the skill of the sauce, and it is the most street-life summer afternoon bowl in central Yunnan.