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The Noodle 100 · make it at home

Sichuan dan dan noodles

30 min · 2

Chengdu street noodles: a small bowl with a spoon of sauce at the bottom (chili oil, sesame, numbing pepper), crisp pork on top. Toss from the bottom. Japan's tantanmen is its soupy cousin.

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The real one

You need

• For the sauce, per bowl: 2 tbsp chili oil with its sediment, 1 tbsp Chinese sesame paste or tahini, 1 tbsp light soy, 1 tsp black vinegar, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp ground roasted Sichuan pepper, 1 small clove garlic grated
• For the pork: 150 g (5 oz) ground pork, 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp Shaoxing wine, 1 tsp dark soy, 1 tbsp chopped ya cai (Sichuan preserved greens, optional)
• 200 g (7 oz) thin wheat noodles, fresh or dried
• A handful of bok choy or spinach
• To finish: crushed roasted peanuts, sliced scallions

How to make it

1. Pork (8 min): Fry the pork in the oil over high heat, breaking it up, until it is browned and crisp at the edges, 6 minutes. Add the wine, dark soy and ya cai and cook until dry.
2. Sauce (3 min): Divide the sauce ingredients between 2 bowls and stir; loosen each with 2 tbsp of hot noodle water.
3. Noodles (4 min): Cook the noodles and greens in boiling water, drain.
4. Build: Put noodles and greens on the sauce, top with pork, peanuts and scallions. Toss well from the bottom before eating.

Tips

• Roast Sichuan peppercorns in a dry pan before grinding; that's where the tingle comes from.
• Tantanmen: add 400 ml hot chicken broth and a soft egg per bowl.

Chef Amazing's own home version, in our words; not any shop's recipe.