There are summer recipes that require you to stand over a hot stove, and there are those that understand the assignment. Erchen Chang’s are firmly in the latter camp: cold noodles slicked with a garlicky tomato dressing, cucumber smashed into craggy pieces so it catches every drop of chilli oil and spinach barely introduced to boiling water before being drenched in a sharp, creamy tofu sauce.

Chang, one of the minds behind London’s BAO restaurants, has always had a knack for food that looks deceptively simple. Here, much of the work is in getting the small things right: tomatoes should be properly ripe and, importantly, never refrigerated; cucumber is salted until it loses enough water to become exceptionally crunchy; the spinach dressing needs the grassy bitterness of good olive oil against soy, sesame and lemon.

The cold tomato noodles are perhaps the easiest place to start. Sweet tomatoes are marinated with olive oil, soy and white pepper before meeting chilled wheat noodles and chilli oil – exactly the sort of dinner worth keeping in reserve for a warm evening. The smacked cucumber takes a little more commitment, not least because Chang’s Sichuan chilli oil benefits from a couple of days to steep, but rewards the effort with smoked eel, black vinegar, garlic and serious heat.

And for something quieter, there is spinach with tofu sauce: a Taiwanese noodle-shop staple reframed with a silky, salty dressing. Three dishes that make a convincing case for keeping the cooking light and letting the sauces do the heavy lifting.

Cold tomato noodles

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the tomato dressing:

*80ml extra virgin olive oil *

*2 garlic cloves, finely grated *

*30ml light soy sauce (or aged white soy if you can find it) *

*¼ tsp ground white pepper *

To serve:

*4 large, ripe tomatoes (Marmande if available) *

*300g fresh wheat noodles *

*Tomato dressing *

*2 tsp chilli oil *

Method:

To make the dressing:

  1. Finely grate the garlic into a bowl.

  2. Add the olive oil, soy sauce and white pepper.

  3. Whisk together until combined and set aside.

To serve:

  1. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Cook the noodles until just tender, then drain and rinse thoroughly under cold running water until completely chilled. Drain well.

  2. Remove the cores from the tomatoes and cut them into irregular wedges.

  3. Toss the tomatoes with 3 tbsp of the tomato dressing and leave to marinate for 10–15 minutes.

  4. Toss the cold noodles with 2 tbsp of the dressing.

  5. Divide the dressed tomatoes between four shallow bowls. Spoon over a little of the remaining dressing and drizzle the chilli oil around the tomatoes.

  6. Serve the chilled noodles alongside the tomatoes in separate bowls, allowing everyone to combine them as they eat.

Note: Never refrigerate tomatoes before serving – they lose much of their sweetness and aroma when stored in the fridge.

Eel and smacked cucumber

“Whenever I think of smacked cucumber salad, my mouth salivates. The perfect smacked cucumber is salted so that the moisture is drawn out from the cucumber, giving it a refreshing crunch. The secret of the dish lies in the garlic, which is rubbed onto the flesh. Make sure you crush the garlic well so the inside is exposed when you rub it over the cucumber – it definitely takes this simple dish to the next level.”

Serves: 2-3

Ingredients:

*½ cucumber (preferably ridged), halved lengthways and seeded *

*Pinch of salt *

*Pinch of sugar *

*1 clove garlic, smashed with the edge of a knife *

180ml Tiger Dressing (recipe below)

30ml Sichuan chilli oil (recipe below)

*40g Sichuan chilli oil bits *

*1 tbsp finely chopped coriander stalks *

*30g smoked eel *

Note: The chilli oil ‘bits’ are the blitzed chilli mix that sits at the bottom of the Sichuan oil.

Method:

  1. Put the cucumber, cut sides down, onto a chopping board and crush with the flat part of your knife. Rub the flesh side of the smacked cucumber with a generous sprinkle of salt and sugar and leave to macerate for 1 hour until the moisture is drawn out.

  2. Rinse the salt and sugar off the cucumber and pat dry with paper towels. If you have the time, transfer to an airtight container and leave to sit in the refrigerator overnight, to draw more moisture out.

  3. Rub the smashed garlic onto the flesh side of the cucumber pieces, then cut the cucumber into 2 cm (¾ inch) triangles and put into a bowl. Dress the cut cucumber with the tiger dressing, chilli oil, chilli oil bits and chopped coriander (cilantro).

To serve:

  1. Slice the eel in half and remove any small bones, then cut into 1 cm (½ inch) slices. Scoop the eel and cucumber pieces into a serving bowl, piling the cucumber high and spooning over the dressing so that it pools around the cucumber.

Tiger dressing

Makes: 150 ml

Ingredients:

*1 jalapeño, halved *

*1 clove garlic, crushed *

*80ml Chinkiang black rice vinegar *

*2 tbsp sesame oil *

*25g caster (superfine) sugar *

*2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil *

*½ tsp salt *

*Pinch of ground white pepper *

Method:

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a small non-reactive bowl and leave to infuse in a cold, dark place, covered, for 1 week.

  2. The longer you leave this to infuse, the better. It's great as a salad dressing, on Smacked Cucumbers or over dumplings.

Sichuan chilli oil

Makes: 250 ml

Ingredients:

*18g coriander seeds *

*250ml rapeseed (canola) oil *

*4 cloves garlic, lightly crushed *

*20g fresh ginger, peeled and sliced and lightly crushed *

*1 star anise *

*60g dried red chillies *

*15g Sichuan peppercorns *

*Generous ½ tsp salt *

*1 tsp sugar *

*30g Korean chilli flakes *

*25g whole bean soy sauce *

*½ tsp sesame seeds *

Method:

  1. In a dry pan, toast the coriander seeds for 3 minutes over low heat, being careful they don't burn. Combine the seeds with the oil, garlic, ginger and star anise in a small saucepan and simmer gently over a low heat for 10-20 minutes to infuse – you want to smell the aroma of the garlic and ginger, but not burn them.

  2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Put the dried chillies onto a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 8 minutes, or until reddish brown—they should not blacken. Add the Sichuan peppercorns 3 minutes before the end of the cooking time and toast. Remove from the oven and let cool, then transfer to a spice grinder or pestle and mortar, add the salt, sugar and Korean chilli flakes and grind to a powder. Tip the spice mixture into a heatproof bowl and place a fine-mesh sieve on top, then place the bowl near to where the saucepan of oil is infusing.

  3. Increase the heat under the infused oil until it becomes very hot (180C/350F) and the garlic and ginger start to brown fully. Carefully pour the hot oil into the heatproof bowl through the sieve – the spice powder and oil should bubble vigorously for about 20 seconds. Add the soy sauce and leave the oil to steep, covered, for at least 2 days at room temperature for optimum flavour.

  4. The chilli oil can be stored in a sterilized jar or airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to 1 month.

Spinach with tofu sauce

“A simple, light dish that is all about the balance – if you get this slightly off, it can taste either too bland or too strong. Beware, you;ll need a lot of spinach as it shrinks when blanched. Blanched green leaves (tang ching tsai) are one of the most common side dishes in Taiwanese noodle shops. My favourite greens are sweet potato leaves, which while commonly eaten in Taiwan, unfortunately can’t be found in England. Each noodle house makes their own unique dressing. Our dressing recipe is a combination of grassy olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce and lemon juice. The silky mixture coats the delicate spinach, and the dish is finished with a creamy, salty tofu sauce.”

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

For the spinach dressing:

*3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (preferably a green and grassy one) *

*3 tbsp whole bean soy sauce *

*5¼ tsp lemon juice *

*2¼ tsp sesame oil *

*25 g caster (superfine) sugar *

For the sour tofu sauce:

*30g firm tofu, drained *

*15g fermented white beancurd, drained *

*2 tsp lemon juice *

*4 tsp soy milk *

*Pinch of salt *

*2 tbsp rapeseed (canola) oil *

To serve:

*400g baby spinach *

*120ml spinach dressing *

*40ml sour tofu sauce *

Tip: Keeping the spinach dressing in a bottle in the refrigerator will help to keep it at the right consistency for the finished dish.

Method:

To make the spinach dressing:

  1. Whisk together all the ingredients in a small bowl until fully emulsified. Transfer to a sterilized glass bottle and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To make the sour tofu sauce:

  1. Put all the ingredients except the oil into a blender and blend to a smooth consistency. Gradually pour in the oil while the blender is still running, until all the oil is incorporated and the sauce is emulsified, shiny and has a similar thickness to yogurt.

Note: There will be more sauce than is needed for this recipe, but it can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. It can be used as a sauce to eat with blanched vegetables, like asparagus.

To assemble:

  1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil and blanch the baby spinach for 10 seconds, then drain thoroughly.

  2. Using a pair of chopsticks, arrange the blanched baby spinach in piles in 4 small, shallow bowls, then generously spoon over each serving 2 tablespoons of the spinach dressing and 1 teaspoon of the sour tofu sauce, so they drip gracefully from the top and down one side. Eat straight away.