MUZIChinese Matrix
Fujian Cuisine · FFET10256
A Xiamen noodle soup of alkaline oil noodles in a shacha broth, with toppings such as pork liver, seafood and tofu puffs.
A round white porcelain bowl has tan peanut butter shacha soup, yellow alkaline noodles, pink shrimp, white fish balls, golden tofu puffs, green choy sum and white bean sprouts, with wooden chopsticks resting beside the bowl.
The regional cooking of Fujian, using sea produce and mountain ingredients together, with a strong tradition of soups.
Shacha mian is a noodle soup originating in Xiamen in southern Fujian, with a broth built on shacha sauce. In 2 recipes, the broth includes peanut butter or a peanut and sesame paste, with shrimp, fish balls, tofu puffs and other toppings. Shacha sauce derives from Southeast Asian satay sauce carried back by overseas Chinese; local people also believe the noodle soup came from Nanyang. No date is given for the sauce in Fujian, no dated record of the noodle soup itself was found, and no document proves its Nanyang origin.
Shacha mian is a Xiamen noodle soup: oily alkaline noodles in a savory, nutty broth built on shacha sauce, topped with a choice of pork liver, kidney, seafood or tofu puffs.1,2,3,5,6
A 2024 account notes a local belief that shacha mian came from Nanyang; no document proves this origin, and no dated record of the dish was found.3
Shacha mian originates in Xiamen and belongs to southern Fujian's noodle soups. It is also found in Taiwan and Southeast Asia.1,2,5,6
The broth combines shacha sauce and stock with peanut butter or a peanut and sesame paste. Toppings include shrimp, fish balls, tofu puffs, greens and bean sprouts. The noodles are cooked, put in a bowl and covered with hot broth.5,6
Shacha sauce derives from Southeast Asian satay sauce carried back by overseas Chinese. No date is given for Fujian, a 2025 article repeats the account without citing sources, and no reliable account of how the noodle soup itself came about was found.4,7
Shacha mian is a signature street food of Xiamen, with 4 long-standing Xiamen shops documented.1,5,6
One explanation says Minnan speakers, who love tea, rendered the Malay word for satay as sha-cha, using the character for tea. Another says the second sound of the word satay resembles the Hokkien word for tea. These are two explanations of the name, not dated records.
Told in: Two explanations listed in English Wikipedia as told in the Minnan region. No earlier written source was found.
Grandma Li
This is a simplified home version, not the traditional restaurant method.
This is my simplified home version of shacha mian. The amounts are half of one signed recipe: shacha sauce and peanut butter in a ratio of two to one, about 480 ml of broth and 225 g of noodles, with shrimp, fish balls, tofu puffs, greens and bean sprouts. Another recipe uses seafood and a peanut and sesame paste and adds milk powder, which I did not follow. I use ready-made shacha sauce, and I cannot match the many ingredients that go into the broth in Xiamen shops. The cooking of the shrimp, the time for the noodles and the seasoning are my own choices at home.
Allergens: peanut, shellfish, fish, wheat, soy
