Dan Dan Noodles

Where This Goes Wrong

Chinese sesame paste is made from toasted seeds and is much darker and nuttier than tahini. Tahini plus a teaspoon of sesame oil is an acceptable stand-in.

Use the sediment from the bottom of the chilli oil jar, not just the clear oil — that is where the flavour lives.

Ya cai is worth ordering online; it provides the salty, funky note that makes the dish distinctive.

Making Dan Dan Noodles

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1. Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high and fry the pork, breaking it up and then leaving it to catch, for 6 to 8 minutes until genuinely crisp and browned.

   Mark done Start 6 min timer

2. Add the Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce and five-spice and cook 2 minutes until dry. Stir in the ya cai and fry 2 minutes more. Set aside.

   Mark done

3. Toast the Sichuan peppercorns for 45 seconds and grind them.

   Mark done Start 45 sec timer

4. In each serving bowl, whisk together the sesame paste, chilli oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, garlic, ground Sichuan pepper and hot stock until smooth and loose.

   Mark done

5. Blanch the greens in boiling water for 60 seconds and lift out.

   Mark done Start 60 sec timer

6. Cook the noodles in the same water for 90 seconds to 2 minutes until just tender, then drain but do not rinse — the residual heat is what loosens the sauce.

   Mark done Start 90 sec timer

7. Pile the hot noodles straight onto the sauce, top with the crisp pork, greens, spring onion and peanuts.

   Mark done

8. Serve immediately and instruct everyone to stir vigorously from the bottom before eating.

   Mark done

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Why It Works

Dan dan is a sauce-in-the-bottom dish, not a tossed one: the noodles arrive hot enough to loosen the sesame paste when stirred, creating an emulsion at the table. Frying the pork until genuinely crisp gives the textural counterpoint that keeps the dish from being uniformly soft.

Leftovers, Reheating and Keeping

The pork topping keeps 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Assemble bowls to order — noodles standing in sauce turn claggy.

If You're Missing Something

• Out of spring onions? A small regular onion, finely sliced, or a few chives stirred in at the end both cover the job.
• Dried chilli flakes can stand in for the chilli. Heat varies a great deal between chillies and between jars, so start with a small pinch and add more to taste.
• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

What to Serve Alongside

• A cold lager or barley tea
• Serve with smashed cucumber salad
• Finish with chilled melon

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Vegan Fried Rice.

Dan Dan Noodles Nutrition Facts

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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