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Dan Dan Noodles

Dan Dan Noodles

Ian Benites
My recipe for the classic Sichuan noodle dish.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Servings 2 individual bowls

Ingredients
  

Pork topping (enough for 2 bowls of noodles)

  • 1 Tbsp rendered lard
  • 70 grams snake beans, sliced into 1/4 inch rounds (1/2 cup sliced beans)
  • 1 medium clove garlic, chopped
  • 75 grams ground pork ( 1/4 cup)
  • 1/2 Tbsp Shoaxing wine (optional)
  • 1 Tbsp tian mian jiang AKA sweet wheat paste (can be substituted with hoisin sauce)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp soy sauce
  • 35 grams suimiyacai (preserved mustard greens) (1/4 cup)

Sauce (per bowl)

  • 1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion
  • 2 tsp rendered pork lard
  • 2 Tbsp Sichuan chili oil, with sediment (recipe linked above)
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. Chinkiang vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp toasted, ground sichuan peppercorn
  • 1.5 Tbsp Tahini
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp MSG (optional but recommended)

Final assembly (per bowl)

  • 200 grams hand-cut alkaline noodles or store bought fresh wheat noodles (recipe linked above yields 400 grams of noodles, 2 bowls worth)
  • 1 Tbsp starchy noodle cooking water (obtained after cooking the noodles)
  • 3-4 Tbsp Pork topping

Instructions
 

Pork/snake bean topping

  • Melt 1 Tbsp lard in a saute pan over medium-high heat.
    melt lard
  • Add the sliced snake beans and chopped garlic and cook for 30 seconds over medium-high heat.
    adding snake beans
  • Add the ground pork and start to cook while breaking it up with a spoon. Cook for a minute or two; until the pork is cooked through.
    adding pork
  • Add the Shaoxing wine, followed by the tian mian jiang, salt, sugar, and soy sauce. Stir and cook for 30 seconds.
    adding seasoning
  • Add the suimiyacai and cook everything together for 1 more minute.
    sui mi ya cai
  • Place the pork topping in a small bowl, and keep covered, at room temperature until ready to use, 3 hours max.
    topping

Sauce and assembly

  • Bring approximately 3 quarts/liters of water to a boil. Do not salt the water.
  • Place all of the sauce ingredients in the bottom of two bowls. Remember that the ingredients listed above are for EACH bowl of noodles.
    Sauce
  • Boil 200 grams of noodles for about 2-3 minutes.
    Boil Noodles
  • Remove the noodles from the pot using a mesh strainer, shake off all of the excess water and place the cooked noodles into one of your bowls.
    noodles
  • Top the noodles with 1 Tbsp of the noodle cooking water and 3-4 Tbsp of the pork topping (half of the topping you made).
    Dan Dan Noodles
  • Cook the other 200 grams of noodles and finish the 2nd bowl in the same way.
  • Serve and make sure you mix the noodles well before eating!
    Dan Dan Noodles