This is a very simple and quick dish to make and the taste is totally addictive. Dan Dan Mian is named after the bamboo shoulder pole that the street vendors used to carry their stoves, noodles, and secret sauces. It is a noodle dish that you will find in almost any Sichuan restaurant. Dan Dan Noodles are a true classic example of Sichuan cooking. The “mala” (spicy and numbing) sensation is absolutely addictive.
Dan Dan Mian consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables, chili oil, Sichuan peppers, chopped pork, and scallions. The Sichuan pepper and chili in Dan Dan Noodle dishes provide the signature sensation that is mala.
Ingredients (if you want to make this dish from scratch):
Servings: 4
• 1 Tablespoon Szechuan pepper oil
• 1 teaspoon avocado oil
• 8 ounces ground pork or beef (250gm)
• 2 cups chicken stock (500ml)
• 1/2 cup Japanese pickled radishes, diced
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tablespoons black vinegar
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon chili oil
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• Pinch of salt
• 500g udon, wheat or Jingong noodles
• 4 spring onions, finely sliced, for garnish
Directions:
1. If you do not have szechuan pepper oil, then:
– Heat a wok over low heat and dry-fry 2 tsp Szechuan peppercorns for 2-3 minutes until fragrant. be very careful not to let the peppers get burned.
– Add 5 tsp peanut oil and cook over low heat for 10 minutes to infuse it with the flavor of the peppercorns.
– Cool, then strain the oil into a saucepan, discarding the peppercorns.
2. Add the chicken stock, preserved radish, soy sauce, black vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, chili oil and white pepper to the Szechuan oil in the saucepan.
3. Keep warm over medium heat.
4. Heat the avocado or peanut oil in wok over high heat and stir fry the meat with a pinch of salt until brown and crispy, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Either soak udon noodles for a few minutes in hot water, drain and add to stock mixture, or cook thin wheat noodles for 2 minutes in boiling water, drain and add to mixture.
6. Divide noodle/broth mixture into four soup bowls, top with the pork and garnish with spring onion.
7. Eat, slurp and make appreciative noises at will!
If you want a shortcut using prepared seasoning packages then the following is the under 20 minute version of this recipe with almost no prep time at all.
Ingredients (if you want to make this dish the easy way):
Chinese noodles (Jingong, udon etc)
• Jingong Dandan Noodle seasoning pouches containing (Veg. oil, Yacai, chilli, salt, sesame paste, sugar, garlic and red peppers)
• scallions (sliced)
• 50-80g ground pork per serving
• chili powder
• Soy sauce
• Sichuan pepper oil
Directions:
1. Cook the noodles in a broth of chicken bullion. When the noodles are done, pour the broth into a separate container to be used in making the sauce.
2. For each 100g of noodles, pour a small pouch (30g) of the pre-packaged seasoning mixture into a large bowl.
3. Add a half cup of broth per serving to the large bowl
4. Add 1 TBS soy sauce per serving to the large bowl
5. Stir to mix the ingredients and let it sit until the meat is ready
6. Fry the ground pork in two tablespoons or more of Sichuan pepper oil until crispy. Season with a pinch of pepper, salt and chill powder. Remove any excess oil.
Serving suggestion:
Place a portion of cooked noodles into a bowl and then pour the sauce over the noodles to fill the bowl 80% with liquid. Then top with the ground pork and sliced scallions.