Dan Dan Noodles – Recipe

I'm forever craving the numbing burn of Sichuan cuisine. I decided I must make 担担面 dan dan noodles, one of the region's most famous snacks. It's usually served in small portions, and is seen pretty much everywhere.




It seems like a lot of ingredients, but the method is quite simple – once you get the bits and pieces together it's a matter of just putting them together.

Ready? Let's go.

Serves one (or two if you're serving it snack-sized).

Ingredients for Meat:

125g beef mince
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, ground
Pinch of ground five spice
1cm cube ginger, minced
2 tsp doubanjiang (fermented bean chilli paste)
1 tbsp suimiyacai (pickled Sichuan veg – very important ingredient! You can find it in any Chinese supermarket)
Splash of shaoxing wine
1/2 small lotus root, sliced (optional)
1 spring onion, chopped

Ingredients for Sauce:

1 small clove garlic
2 tbsp chilli oil (I use mine, but any Chinese chilli oil will do)
2 tbsp hot water
1 tbsp sesame paste
1 tbsp black chinkiang vinegar
1 tsp sugar

Ingredients to Serve:

1 nest dry egg noodles, cooked to pack instructions
1 pak choi, chopped and steamed
A little chopped spring onion and coriander
Small handful of crushed peanuts

Method:

1. On a medium heat, fry the beef mince in a dry pan until browned. Drain and discard the liquid, and set the beef aside in a bowl. Use the mince oil residue in the pan to fry the pepper, five spice and ginger for half a minute until fragrant, and add the rest of the ingredients. If you're including the lotus root slices, fry until tender, then stir in the mince. If not, stir the mince back in straight away.

2. Simply mix all of the sauce ingredients together in the bowl you're going to serve them in.

3. Layer the noodles over the sauce, followed by the pak choi, mince, chopped spring onion and coriander, and crushed peanuts. Toss together to mix everything up before eating.


Enjoy, and have fun.

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