擔擔麵 Dan Dan Noodles

I used to go to a few cities in Sichuan for business frequently. One thing about Sichuan food is you got addicted to its strong, layers of very rich flavors, and of course usually spicy and a bit numb savory cooking. Besides Paris, I find it rare to find a really good Sichuan restaurant in most parts of Europe. So when my Sichuan craving appears, I make some dish for my tummy.

Dan Dan noodles is one of the famous Chengdu dish originated from local street food dated back to 19 centuries. It is one of many local cuisines you don’t want to miss if you are ever in town. The ingredients are simple, noodles, stir-fried ground pork, peanut shreds, chopped scallions, sesame paste and red chili oil based soup. But it is so tasty your taste buds are going to scream for more once you tried it. The secret of all flavors is in the specially made red chili oil, combined with aroma of sesame paste and freshly roasted peanuts. I will update the secret red chili oil recipe next on my next post later this week so stay tuned.

Ingredients:

• 200 g of dried thin noodles
• 150 g of ground pork
• 30 g of In shale peanuts
• 1 bundle of scallions
• 1 teaspoon of minced ginger
• 2-3 cloves of garlic

Soup Base and Seasoning (for 2 servings)

• 4 tablespoons of homemade *red chili oil
• 2 tablespoons of white sesame paste
• 2 cup of chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon of cooking rice wine
• 2 teaspoon of soy sauce
• Rice vinegar

The Cooking:

1. Marinate minced pork with rice wine, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce for 10 minutes. Heat up a frying pan to medium heat, add in minced ginger, 1 teaspoon of chopped scallions, minced garlic and fry until aromatic then add in meat. Continue stirring until pork turns brown, drizzle in some soy sauce, a pinch of sugar, stir for a few more minutes until pork lost moisture, looks slightly crispy on surface, turn off heat.
2. Heat up a frying pan to low-to-medium heat, roast peeled peanuts with a drizzle of oil until aromatic. When peanuts cooled down, put them in a clean plastic bag, roll on with a rolling pin to shred the peanuts then set aside.
3. Bring water to boil, add in dried noodles and cook until noodles are ready, drain noodles and set aside.
4. Prepare a serving bowl, add in red chili oil (it will be depending on how spicy you like for your noodles. I enjoy the original hot flavor, so I added 2 tablespoons of red chili oil per serving), white sesame paste, soy sauce, two pinches of sugar, drizzle of rice vinegar as desired, then pour in hot chicken stock, blend well.
5. Put the noodles in the bowl, top with stir-fried ground pork, peanut shreds, chopped scallions. There you go a very tasty Dan Dan noodles ready to be savored!