Sichuan people like their Sichuan food. On Chengdu’s mean streets, Chuancai dominates, and it’s sometimes difficult to find any other Chinese cuisine. A few, though, are readily available, and so over the next few weeks I’ll be introducing you to some of my favourites in my neighborhood. First stop: Yunnan, and the famous ‘Crossing the Bridge Noodles’.

Legend has it that this dish was created during the Qing dynasty, by the wife of a hard-working scholar. The scholar liked to work on an island on a lake, and everyday his wife would bring him a bowl of rice noodles for lunch; but by the time she had walked from their home and crossed the bridge to the island, the noodles would be cold.

Eventually, however, the scholar’s wife hit upon a clever idea: a layer of oil on top of the broth. This little trick kept the heat from escaping, and ensured that the noodles arrived at her husband’s table still hot and delicious. Thus, the dish was named 过桥米线 (guo qiao mixian) – ‘Crossing the Bridge Noodles’.

Today, Crossing the Bridge Noodles are perhaps Yunnan’s most famous dish, and specialist restaurants can be found on almost every street in the capital, Kunming. They’re are also quite popular in Chengdu, and accordingly, my local Crossing the Bridge Noodles restaurant is run by a family who used to live in Yunnan. Here, the layer of oil isn’t very thick, but I don’t really care about that anyway, because what really make Crossing the Bridge Noodles fun are all the things you add to the broth: quail’s eggs, tofu skin, bean sprouts, spring onions, tomato, lettuce, a couple of different meats, and of course, the rice noodles.

First, a plate laid out with all these goodies arrives at your table, along with a generous bowl of rice noodles.

Next comes a huge claypot-ful of broth, to which the waitress adds all the other ingredients.

Finally, you mix it all together with your chopsticks, add any extra flavourings you may desire (such as vinegar or chili oil), and it’s ready – as seen, in all its glory, in the photo at the top of this post. Crossing the Bridge Noodles are perfect in cold weather, when the hot broth is wonderfully warming. It’s also particularly good when you’re feeling a bit unwell, for not only is it full of fresh, lightly cooked vegetables, but it also has many of the qualities of that universal cure-all, chicken soup.

Keep your eyes peeled for more in the Beyond Sichuan series, coming soon…

ps. I recently learnt that, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, you shouldn't eat chicken when you've got a cold - the complete opposite to Western medical wisdom! I wonder which one is right...