Traditional Dan Dan Noodles

Recipe for "Traditional Dan Dan Noodles" from "Land of Plenty" (a Sichuanese cookbook) by Fuchsia Dunlop.

William does not like very spicy food. One great thing about this recipe is that you can adapt it for varying spice levels. The sauce and the Sichuan pepper can be mixed into the noodles at the table to each individual's taste. You can also add less chili oil in the sauce and people that like spicy things can add additional chili oil at the table. I like my noodles with extra Sichuan pepper and chili oil.

I also wanted to make dan dan noodles that have sesame paste in it. Based on This recipe and this recipe and the two dan dan noodles recipes in Fuchsia Dunlop's "Land of Plenty", I made the following recipe.

One thing that is nice about this dish, is that it is possible to accommodate different tastes in this recipe. Another time that I served this, I set out all of the toppings in separate containers. I also made two versions of the ground pork: one spicy and one not, and a I separated the spice ingredients from the non-spicy ones, so that William could make a non-spicy version of these noodles, and I could make a spicy one. Add whatever toppings you like, and then mix your noodles, and eat. The recipe turned out ok--next time I'd like to use noodles that aren't quite as thick and are more slippery (I used fresh Shanghai noodles).

I set out:

• Noodle sauce (recipe below)
• Toasted sesame oil
• Roasted chopped peanuts
• Chinese chili oil
• Non-spicy cooked ground pork
• Minced raw green onion
• 1 tsp roasted ground sichuan peppercorns
• Picked mustard greens which had been sautéed for 30 seconds to 1 minute in a pan on high heat with enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
• Spicy cooked ground pork

The large bowl on the right is my noodle bowl (before mixing).

Toasting Sichuan peppercorns:

My bowl of noodles (before mixing):

Pickled mustard greens:

Makes 4 servings.
For the noodle sauce, I mixed the following ingredients:

• 3/4 cup chicken stock (unsalted). I sometimes freeze chicken stock in an ice cube tray to make it easier to be able to use only small bits of the stock. 3/4 cup is about 8 frozen cubes.
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 4 Tbsp raw unhulled sesame seeds, which were roasted and ground before being added to the sauce
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp black vinegar
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 Tbsp ground roasted peanuts

and heated them until the mixture was simmering. Taste and adjust the seasonings.
For the non-spicy meat, I mixed

• 1 tsp Shaoxing cooking wine
• 2 tsp light soy

First I sautéed for 30 seconds in a pan preheated on high with some neutral cooking oil:

• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 Tbsp ginger

Then I added 0.35 pounds of ground pork and broke it up a little. I added the sauce when the meat was still raw, and sautéed and broke the ground pork until it was cooked. Add additional soy sauce to taste--I added 1 tsp soy at end of cooking. The pork is done when it is cooked through, but still a little moist.

For the spicy meat I mixed:

• 1 tsp Shaoxing cooking wine
• 2 tsp light soy
• 2 tsp toban djan

First I sautéed for 30 seconds in a pan preheated on high with some neutral cooking oil, until it started to get brown roasted spots:

• 3 dried red chilies cut in half

Then I added 0.35 pounds of ground pork and broke it up a little. I added the sauce and 2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns when the meat was still raw, and sautéed and broke the ground pork until it was cooked. Add additional soy sauce to taste--I added 1 tsp soy at end of cooking. The pork is done when it is cooked through, but still a little moist.

Next time, I will put the pickled mustard greens in the pan just after the chilies are cooked, saute them for 30 seconds, and then add the meat, because I think the pickled mustard greens taste better when they are cooked with the pork (which is how I ate this the second day, when I was reheating left overs).

This dish is also good as leftovers (preferably, boil up fresh noodles, rather than using leftover noodles). Heat up the sauce and resaute the meat, and then cook the noodles. The second time I made this I used somen noodles; although they are tasty they stick together even if you toss them with oil, and you can't stir in the dressing (since the noodles are so thin and break easily), so next time I would use a different type of noodle.