hello hi everyone! Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to classic chinese comfort foods with yet another shot at what I can confidently call my favorite noodle dish of all time, which is a Sichuan sesame noodle, or “dan dan” mian. For our version today, we’re gonna start off with a few pantry essentials that you might expect, like shaoxing wine, doubanjiang, and dark soy sauce, but then we’re gonna take a closer look at the element that I think makes or breaks the whole dish, which is our chile oil. Today we’re gonna be making ours from scratch to really bring the dish to life, but those that have followed this series will know that we use the lao gan ma version of this ingredient literally all the time, which makes this chile oil really versatile. Finally, I would be remiss if we didn’t address my personal favorite twist to a dan dan mian, which is that here in the states, dan dan noodles are often made with peanut butter, so we’ll also be taking a look at the differences between sesame paste, tahini, and of course, good old skippy’s peanut butter. Hope you try it.
Serves 2-3
INGREDIENTS
4 cloves garlic
1 inch (about 1 tbsp) ginger
3 green onions
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn
16 oz egg noodles
8 oz ground pork
peanut oil
INGREDIENTS (sauce)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp doubanjiang
3 tbsp peanut butter
2-3 tbsp chili oil
INGREDIENTS (marinade)
4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp shaoxing wine
2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
INGREDIENTS (chili oil)
1 cup grapeseed oil
1 cinnamon stick
3 star anise pods
6 Tian Jin peppers
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn
1/4 cup red chili flake
PREP
CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
SEPARATE the whites and greens of the green onions, then slice thinly on a bias, set aside
TOAST 1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorn over low heat in a dry wok, then crush in a mortar and pestle
COMBINE all chili oil ingredients except the red chili flake, then simmer over low heat for 10 minutes
REMOVE all solids, then add the red chili flake and steep for 1 hour as long as possible
COMBINE all sauce ingredients, set aside
COMBINE all marinade ingredients, set aside
ON THE STOVE
BOIL a pot of water, then add the egg noodles and cook for 2 minutes
RESERVE 1/2 cup pasta water
REMOVE and shock in cold water immediately
HEAT a wok as hot as possible, then add 1/4 cup peanut oil and long yao
ADD the garlic, ginger, and whites of green onions, then bloom until fragrant for 15 seconds
ADD the ground pork, break up larger clumps, and toss until 80% cooked through
ADD marinade sauce, then toss to combine
REMOVE and deglaze the wok with the sauce mixture, then add 1/4 cup pasta water
PLATE with sauce on the bottom, followed by noodles, ground pork, greens of green onions, and Sichuan peppercorn