Dan dan noodles

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients

500g pork mince
50ml light soy sauce
50ml Chinese rice wine (aka Shao Tsing, Shao Hsing or Shaoxing)
Ground white pepper

500g Chinese wheat noodles
50ml vegetable oil plus extra for the noodles
100g Tianjin preserved vegetables
2 Tbl of Sichuan peppercorns, or to taste
45ml Chinese rice wine
80ml light soy sauce
15ml dark soy sauce
60-120ml red chilli oil (adjust to your spiciness level)
2 tsps brown rice vinegar (can be substituted with balsamic or Chinese black vinegar)
500ml chicken stock
2-3 Tbl caster sugar, or to taste
Scallions, sliced thinly
Red chillis, deseeded and slice thinly

Method

Combine the pork mince, soy sauce, rice wine and white pepper and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.

Meanwhile, rinse the Tianjin preserved veges (to rinse off the excess saltiness), squeeze to dry then drain on paper towels. Pound the Sichuan pepper in a mortle and pestle to a fine powder.

After the pork has marinated, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook your wheat noodles according to the packet’s instructions until tender. Drain, rinse with cold water and drain again. Add a dash of vegetable oil and toss to keep the noodles from sticking. Set aside while you prepare the sauce.

In a wok, heat the 50ml vege oil over medium-high heat. Add the drained preserved veges and fry until fragrant. Add the marinated pork mince and fry for a couple of minutes until browned.

Add the rice wine and cook for a further minute. Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes to develop the flavours.

Divide the noodles in serving bowls, ladle the hot sauce and pork mince over and garnish with scallions and chillis if using.

Notes on recipe:

• Any type and thickness noodles can be used in this recipe whether it’s egg or wheat. Pantry empty? Spaghetti or thin linguine can be used to substitute. I prefer to use thicker 100% wheat noodles (the ones I buy looks like linguine).

• Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles tends to be less sweeter and more spicier. “Westernised” and Taiwanese (so I’ve been told) versions tend to be sweeter, milder, have a thicker sauce and include a bit of sesame paste or peanut butter.

• Feel free to mix it up with the sauce if you like. Add chinese mushrooms / shitakes to the noodles or garnish with chinese greens. This is a dish that is easy to play with to your heart’s desire.

Shanghai noodles with pork mince

ingredients:

for the sauce:

2 tbsp brown bean sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp Shaoxing wine
375 ml (1½ cups)chicken stock

for the rest of it:

80 ml (1/3 cup) vegetable oil
5 green onions, finely chopped, white and green parts separated
2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped
300g minced pork
1 tsp white sugar, or to taste
1 tsp tapioca starch
500gm fresh Shanghai noodles
1 Lebanese cucumber

method:

1. First things first. Take off your coat, shake your umbrella out and get into a pair of slippers. Turn the heating on and rouse the family. “We’re having noodles for dinner!”you will say. “Oh, ok.” they will reply. Don’t worry about the lack of reaction. They’ll come around once they start to smell it

2. Now get to sauce making. Dump it all in whatever is deemed worthy and stir around. It can be tricky measuring out some of the ingredients, mainly because the lid of your jar will be this big and your tablespoon measure will be just that little bit wider. No matter. Guess-timate. Use your sense of smell to see what you think it should be like.

3. Hopefully by now you will have found a hungry hovering hippo to give you a hand. If not, you can do it yourself. It’s not so bad, truly. Chop up the spring onion and cucumber. Three bowls please. One for the white part of the spring onion, one for the green, and another for the cucumber. I’ve done my spring onion in rounds (straight across it) and my cucumber in little matchsticky pieces.

4. While they’re at it, get them to chop the garlic. That way their fingers will smell of garlic all night, and not yours.

5. We’re almost there! Truly! Tip the oil in a wok and wait til it gets hot. Toss the white part of the spring onion and the garlic in and fry until fragrant (but not brown). About half a minute will do nicely.

6. Toss the mince in and stir fry it until it becomes opaque and each bit of meat separates from the others.

7. Now toss your sauce mix in and simmer. After about five minutes, mix your starch with about 3 tablespoons of water and toss that in too. Bring it to the boil, then back to a simmer for another five minutes. Toss the green part of the spring onion in and stir just before serving.

8. In the meantime, cook your noodles in a separate pot of boiling water for about 3 minutes.

9. All done? Ladle a serve of noodles into a bowl, top with your nicely thickened meaty sauce, a good handful of cucumber and you’re good to go. Now, where was that remote…

Roast Duck and Noodle Salad

serves 4

1/2 roast duck from a Chinese BBQ shop
400g egg noodles (I found some that were almost exactly like the Hokkien Noodles we ate in Malaysia, which are nothing like the fat, slippery, flubbery excuses for noodles that pass as Hokkien here at home)
snow peas, cleaned, sliced and doused quickly with boiling water and refreshed immediately
1 red capsicum, finely sliced
2 lebanese cucumbers, sliced,
1/2 bunch coriander, leaves and stems chopped
5 spring onions, sliced.

For the Dressing:
2T soy sauce
2t sesame oil
2T rice wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
1 long red chilli, finely sliced

Boil noodles according to the instructions on the packet, then refresh them under cold water.
For dressing, combine all ingredients for the dressing, taste and adjust as required.
Pick the duck meat and skin from the bones and place in a bowl with all the other ingredients. Toss with dressing and serve.