Dan Dan Noodles
Chewy wheat noodles over a sauce of sesame paste, black vinegar and chili oil, topped with pork fried until crisp. Toss it from the bottom of the bowl.
Fry the pork past done. Keep going until the fat turns clear and the bits go brown and crackly, about 8 minutes. That dry, crunchy pork is what makes it dan dan and not meat sauce.
Chef's shortcut: Szechuan Crack goes in the bowl sauce in place of ground Sichuan pepper. It brings the numbing tingle plus salt, so taste before you add more soy. Get it at Crack Spice
Ingredients
- Bowl sauce
- 3 tbsp Chinese sesame paste or tahini, stirred well
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp Chinkiang black vinegar
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- 2 tsp Szechuan Crack numbing chili seasoning
- ¼ cup chili oil, with plenty of the sediment
- Pork
- 1 tbsp neutral oil
- 8 oz ground pork
- 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
- 1 tbsp sweet bean sauce or hoisin
- 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- 3 tbsp Sichuan preserved mustard greens (ya cai), optional
- To finish
- 1 lb fresh thin wheat noodles
- 4 baby bok choy, halved
- 3 scallions, sliced
- ¼ cup roasted peanuts, crushed
Method
- Put a big pot of water on to boil. Stir the sesame paste and soy together until smooth first, since the paste seizes if you add everything at once. Then stir in the vinegar, sugar, garlic, Crack Spice and chili oil. Divide among 4 wide bowls.
- Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high. Add the pork, break it up small, and keep frying until the fat turns clear and the pork is brown and crisp, about 8 minutes.
- Add the Shaoxing, sweet bean sauce, dark soy and ya cai. Stir-fry 1 minute until dry and glossy, then take it off the heat.
- Boil the noodles by the package time, usually 2 to 3 minutes, dropping the bok choy in for the last minute. Before you drain, ladle 2 tablespoons of the hot noodle water into each bowl.
- Pile the noodles and bok choy on the sauce. Top with the pork, scallions and peanuts. Toss from the bottom right before eating so every strand gets coated.