The Capsule Pantry: The Noodle Dish to End All Noodle Dishes
Are you ready for the taste explosion that is Dan Dan noodles?
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If you’ve not been introduced to Sichuan cooking before, let me do so now.
Reader, meet Sichuan (otherwise known as Szechuan). An addictive, mouth-numbing flavor bomb of a cuisine from southwest China, whose backbone is chilies and Sichuan peppers. And lots of both.
You’re going to be the best of friends, I can just tell.
One of the most famous Sichuan dishes is Dan Dan noodles. A steaming bowl of pork mince mixed with wheat noodles and an unholy level of chili oil.
I’ve been making Dan Dan noodles for years and they went through a few iterations (there are thousands of versions out there) before I settled on this one.
They’re pretty easy to adapt to your storecupboard - and spice tolerance - so much so I make them on the road pretty often, even when I don’t have every single ingredient to hand.
Let’s get to it.
The original Dan Dan recipe
The chilli oil:
1.5 tbsp sichuan peppercorns lightly crushed
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 small nubbin ginger, finely chopped
1 scallion, finely chopped
3 tbsp dried chili flakes
1 tsp sugar
0.5 tsp salt
1/2 cup vegetable / sunflower / other neutral oil
For the sauce:
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp tahini or smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp light soy
2 tsp dark soy
3 tbsp aforementioned chili oil with bits
For the meat (and meat marinade):
500g / 17oz ground pork
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
Thumb sized piece of ginger
2 tbsp light soy
2 tbsp Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 tsp toasted sesame oil
Preserved mustard preserved greens (optional), finely chopped
Assembly:
A small handful of shredded cabbage, spring greens, spinach, pak choi or any other leafy veg
4 nests of dried noodles
4 scallions, chopped into small rounds
Small handful of chopped peanuts
Make the chilli oil:
Put all the chilli oil ingredients apart from the oil into a heatproof bowl.
Heat the oil on the hob until it shimmers.
CAREFULLY pour the hot oil over the ingredients. It’ll sizzle and might spit a bit so be mindful of that. This is also the time you’ll find out if that heatproof bowl really is heatproof.
This chilli oil can be kept in the fridge for around a month. The longer it is left, the stronger it becomes so if you have time, make it at least a day in advance (although I’ve been known to make it 20 minutes before serving the noodles and it’s still excellent).
Make the sauce
Put all the ingredients for the sauce in a mug and mix. That’s it. Easy.
For the pork
Marinade the pork in all the marinade ingredients apart from the mustard greens. Marinade for as long as you have - anything from five minutes to two hours is perfect.
Heat up some neutral oil in a frying pan and fry the mince on medium heat until cooked and turning golden. Add the mustard greens if you’re using them and fry for a few minutes longer.
I like to fry the pork first then take it off the heat whilst I cook the noodles - it saves the stress! I’ll re-heat the pork just before I serve.
For the assembly
Cook the dried noodles according to packet instructions.
Towards the end of cooking, reserve some of the starchy water and pour around 4tbsp per person into the sauce. The aim here is to thin it out and make it into a kind of starchy broth.
Put a handful of your shredded cabbage or other greens into the bottom of a bowl.
Pour over the sauce.
Drain the noodles and put on one side of the bowl.
Divide the pork mixture up and put on the other side of the bowl.
Garnish with peanuts and scallions.
Now the fun bit. Grab your chopsticks and mix it all up. Stick chili oil on the table for people to add more if they want it.
Adaptations
There are a couple of non-negotiables in here, the main one being the chili oil. But if you don’t like the numbing sensation of Sichuan pepper, you could take it out (just don’t tell anyone from the province) and you could also dial back the chili flakes if you don’t like it too spicy.
A note on the chili flakes - I’ve used Korean, Thai, Turkish, and plain old generic supermarket chilli flakes to make this. The only thing I would say is to ensure they’re dried, not fresh.
Make it vegetarian/vegan
Swap out the ground pork mince for vegetables. Aubergine and mushrooms are great alternatives.
Skip the pork
Although pork is traditional, I’ve also made this with ground beef. Turkey would work too.
Make it gluten-free
Use rice noodles. Or grab a bag of rice instead of noodles if you're so inclined and cook using the absorption method (use double the volume of water to rice, stick on the hob with some salt and a teaspoon or so of oil and boil until the water has been absorbed).
Optional ingredients:
Mustard greens - they’re not always easy to find so leave them out if you can’t find them / can’t be bothered to order them in.
Shaoxing wine - I love it but it’s not easy to find on the road so I often skip it. Dry sherry is a great alternative if you have it to hand.
Toasted sesame oil - again it’s a great ingredient to have on hand but if you don’t - or you don’t like it - omit it.
Mix up the garnishes - peanuts, scallions, and even coriander are the norm but hey, whatever floats your boat here.
Dark soy sauce - although I always advocate having dark soy in the house (it’s so much deeper and more umami flavored than light) you don’t need it. Extra light soy works just fine.