Monday, July 16, 2012

Dan Dan Noodles


Dan dan noodle is a classic dish originated from Chinese Szechuan cuisine. It consist a spicy meat sauce with preserved vegetables in it and it is served over noodles. You can use either pork or beef for the meat sauce and since I like this noodle on the dry side so I just omit the broth part. I never try the original Szechuan noodles before but I understand that they were pretty spicy. I did put some chili in mine but please feel free to adjust the amount of spiciness to your preferences. I find this meat sauce is pretty good to eat with rice too.



Ingredients:

8 ounces dried Chinese egg noodles
6 ounces ground pork or beef
2 cloves garlic – finely chopped
1 tsp chopped ginger
2 ounces of Szechuan preserved vegetable/zha choy – soaked and chopped
2 red chili - chopped
2 green stalk onions - chopped
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese cooking wine
2 tsp Chinese sesame paste or tahini
1 tablespoon Chinese black vinegar (can substitute with balsamic vinegar)
1/2 tsp ground Szechuan peppercorn
1/2 cup chicken stock or water
1 tsp sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste


1. Bring a large pot of water to boil and cook the noodles according to package instructions. Drain the noodles, rinse under cold water, and drain again. Transfer the noodles to a serving dish.
2. Heat a large wok or skillet over medium-high heat. Add the about 1 tbsp of oil and swirl to coat the base and sides. Add the garlic, ginger and red chilies. Stir fry until lightly brown and fragrant.
3. Add in the meat; break them up with the spatula. Stir-fry until the meat no longer pink and slightly brown. Add in the Chinese wine, black vinegar and Szechuan preserved vegetable and cook until fragrant, about a minute. Add in all the rest of the seasonings (except the salt) and chicken stock.
4. Stir well and bring it up to a boil. Cook until sauce thickens. Check the seasonings and see if it need any salt. Spoon the cooked meat mixture over the noodles. Sprinkle the chopped green onions on top of the noodle before serving.

Note: Go easy on the salt as the Szechuan preserved vegetable might be salty.

6 comments:

PH said...

I've seen this dish before at Esquire Kitchen and it looked very good. Somehow I never ordered it. Thanks for the recipe.

My Little Space said...

Grt, your dan dan noodle looks so very much like the hakka noodle with loads of minced meat. haha... So 'kia su'! haha...
Hope you're having a great week ahead. Enjoy!
Kristy

Anonymous said...

This dish look so delicious!!! I can't wait to try them out. Thanks Gert for sharing.

Sue

Elvira said...

Looks awesome! We will be trying this!

Vicky @ UrsineCuisine said...

I just LOVE dan dan noodles - delicious. Lovely to see another post extolling its virtues!

ICook4Fun said...

Phong Hong, the one at Esquire Kitchen taste pretty good.

Kristy, ha ha not kia su but I like more 'liew' than the noodles. Yes pretty much like hakka meen.

Sue, you are welcome.

Elvira, hope you try it out one day.

Vicky, me too :)