So happy to hear you like the recipe! Chinese chili flakes are not very spicy and I use them to add flavor more than making the dish spicy. I’ve also tried making this dish without any chili flakes and it was also quite nice (maybe a bit lacking, but still delicious). You can definitely use less chili flakes or use some paprika to make it less spicy.

The green veggie in the pictures are peppers, not celery.

Hi Jason, the original recipe I learned from used a relatively dry sauce. The tomato will release some liquid after cooking though. Yes, the vinegar and chili oil is a crucial part, and I know some people will add a LOT. If you just want to try out the noodle sauce and do not have black vinegar at home, you can add a bit chicken stock at the end of cooking. And then serve it with chili oil, I bet it’ll be super delicious too.
Happy to hear you like my chili oil recipe and my blog 🙂 You too, have a great week ahead!

Hi Lisa, Happy Chinese New Year to you and your family!
Lamb is not often seen in southern Chinese cooking, but in northern, middle and west parts of China, it’s a very popular meat. And it’s the main source of protein for the large Muslim population in these areas. I will post a few more lamb recipes soon (to celebrate the year of the sheep), hope you’ll like them 🙂
Yep, meat cleaver is a must have for almost every Chinese family. Even for cutting veggies, some people prefer to use it over chopping knife. Also because we really like cooking with bone-in meat, so a cleaver comes in handy when you need to chop raw or cooked bone-in chicken, or pork ribs. About whether to buy one or not, it’s really depend on how you like the food prepared. If you like authentic Asian flavor and would like to cook with bone-in meat, I suggest you to get one 🙂