Dan Dan Noodles

This recipe was inspired by one of my favorite food blogs, Woks of Life, and their Dan Dan Noodle Recipe.

Meat Mixture Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp of vegetable oil

• 1 lb of ground pork (either ground shoulder or butt)

• 3 tsp of hoisin sauce

• 2 tsp of shaoxing wine

• 2 tsp of dark soy sauce

• 1/2 tsp of Chinese five spice powder

• 1/3 cup of Chinese pickled veggies (I like these!)

Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 tsbp of Chinese sesame paste (if you don’t have it, tahini will work)

• 1/4 cup of creamy peanut butter

• 2 tbsp of sesame oil

• 3 tbsp of soy sauce

• 2 tsp of sugar

• 1/4 tsp of Chinese five spice powder

• 3 (heaping) tsp of your favorite chili crisp oil (this is my favorite)

• 2 cloves of garlic; minced

• 1/4 cup of hot water, reserved from boiling the noodles

Other Ingredients:

• 1 lb of fresh dried or frozen noodles

• Peanuts; crushed and roughly chopped (for topping)

• Scallions; chopped (for topping)

• Sesame seeds (for topping)

• Additional sesame oil (as a drizzle)

In a large pot boil your water for your noodles, but don’t cook your noodles until your pork mixture and sauce has been mixed.

Using a cast iron pan (or a heavy bottomed pan), heat 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and add in your ground pork. Cook the pork through pretty much entirely and then add in your hoisin sauce, shaozing wine, dark soy sauce, and five spice powder. Cook until the pork browns and starts to caramelize slightly. With the heat still on, mix in your pickled veggies. Mix everything together so it is fully covered in sauce. Keep it on low heat and stir occasionally until you are ready to serve.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the sauce ingredients (except the noodle water) and set aside. Adjust the sauce as needed (you may want more chili oil if you like it spicy, or more sugar if you like it a bit sweeter).

Cook the noodles as instructed on the package, reserving about 1/4 cup of the noodle water. Set aside the reserve water, drain the noodles, and toss the drained noodles, and reserved water in the bowl you mixed your sauce together in.

After the noodles are fully covered in sauce, plate the noodles into your serving bowls, top with the meat mixture, scallions, chopped peanuts and sesame seeds.

Serve warm!