Dan Dan Noodles
The beautiful Northern Beaches area of Sydney in which I live is many things….but certainly not known for great authentic Sichuan food!!! And given that Dan Dan Noodles is literally one of my all time top 3 foods, it was essential that I arm myself with a totally doable home version that is everything you want in a bowl of slippery, spicy noodles laced with the sesame flavoured Dan Dan Noodle Sauce, wafting with the scent of Chinese five spice. With the signature slick of fiery red chilli sauce on the surface, it actually looks more fierce than it is. I’m one of those people who likes to think they can handle really spicy food – but actually, I can’t at all. So while the recipe provided has a good kick to it (I wouldn’t serve it to a toddler 😂), it is not blow-your-head-off spicy! Usually I’d start with a visual of the ingredients, but in this case I think it’s better to give you an overview of how it’s assembled so you can see the different components of Dan Dan Noodles.
How to make Dan Dan Noodles
Unlike most noodles, such as Lo Mein and Chow Mein noodles, Dan Dan Noodles aren’t tossed together with sauce, vegetables and proteins. Instead, it’s served layered for a DIY toss situation, as follows:
What goes in Dan Dan Noodles
Here’s an overview of what you need and how to make each component for these spicy Sichuan noodles.
1. Dan Dan Noodles Sauce
Here’s what goes in the sauce – it’s not cooked, it’s just mixed up in a bowl.
Chinese Five Spice Powder is a spice mix of (don’t fall of your chair!) five different spices. It’s a common spice blend sold at grocery stores (🇦🇺Woolies, Coles);Sichuan Pepper is the pepper that’s used in Sichuan cooking and other iconic Chinese dishes such as Kung Pao Chicken. It has a spiciness that is numbing rather than the usual fiery heat, and a slight lemony flavour. Available at Asian stores and some grocery stores with speciality spices (eg 🇦🇺Harris Farms), it’s best to freshly grind your own if you can but for convenience, just use pre ground. Substitute with white pepper.Chilli Oil – Bright red in colour, and as spicy as it looks! You’ll find Chinese chilli oil in any Asian grocery store, otherwise, any chilli oil will do just fine. Substitute 1 part sriracha to 2 parts oil.Chinese Chilli paste in oil – My favourite is Fuyun Xiang La Wang (chilli sauce) which is sold at most Chinese grocers. Substitute any Asian chilli paste (preferably in oil), a plain chilli paste, sambal oelek, and add an extra glug of chilli oil;Chicken stock/broth – though I say this sauce is not cooked, this is heated up until hot and this heats up the sauce;Chinese Sesame Sauce or paste (pictured below) – a key ingredient for the sauce flavour. It’s made from ground sesame and is like tahini (used in Hummus) but has a more intense sesame flavour, and it’s darker. Sold at Asian stores, substitute with tahini. Also used in Creamy Sichuan Sesame Sauce for Lettuce Salad.
2. Pork Toppings and Pickled Mustard Greens (Sui Mi Ya Cai)
Dan Dan Noodles are topped with pork mince and pickled mustard greens (called Sui Mi Ya Cai): The making part is literally a less than 5 minute effort – just cook the pork, add the Chinese five spice flavoured sauce. Transfer to a bowl then just heat the pickled mustard greens (more on this below).
3. Sui Mi Ya Cai – Sichuan Preserved Mustard Greens
Firstly, don’t fret if you can’t find this, it’s not a make-or-break ingredient. Recipe only uses a sprinkle that’s added at the end when assembling the dish. This is a signature ingredient used in Dan Dan Noodles. It’s Chinese pickled mustard greens (a type of green vegetable) that comes from the Sichuan region of China. It has the texture and saltiness of kimchi, but it’s not spicy. So that’s the best substitute – kimchi! We’re almost there! Here’s the last part.
4. Noodles, Chinese Greens and Garnishes
Noodles – just any medium thickness, white Asian noodles. Not rice noodles, wheat noodles (check the ingredients list if you can’t read the packet 🙋🏻♀️). White is best for the most striking contrast of colour – the red chilli oil against the white noodles. However, any noodles will do just fine here, even noodle cakes (like ramen packs). Just prepare per packet;Choi Sum – or other Chinese greens, briefly blanched; andGarnishes – peanuts and green onion.
Cook the noodles first, then blanch the choi sum in the same water (just add it into the same pot and drain together for simplicity). Then layer it all up – sauce in first, noodles next, then all the toppings. Then mix it all up and devour!! I know it’s a looooong post, with lots of ingredients visuals and breaking down the components. But don’t fret! Once you’ve gathered all the ingredients, the making part is straight forward. You also don’t need to rush and worry about cooking all the components so they’re piping hot when you put it together. The sauce and pork and be lukewarm because it gets heated through when you toss the hot noodles through. It’s the Dan Dan way! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
Plant shopping! He spent the entire time snuffling around frantically. Some people said it’s because of all the exciting smells – fertiliser manure and the like. I think he was looking for food – because I know how he thinks. He truly believes that people eat their lunch while browsing nurseries and accidentally drop half their sandwich and leave it for lucky dogs to discover.
