Dan dan noodles are spicy yet numbing thin wheat noodles with savoury ground pork and flavourful preserved mustard greens topped with bok choy, green onions, and chopped peanuts. It’s drizzled with a sauce that causes a tingling sensation on the tongue due to the Sichuan peppercorns that are present in it. It’s a famous dish that’s a perfect representation of “mala”, a spicy and numbing flavour profile that is characteristic of Sichuan cuisine from China.
When I tried dan dan noodles for the first time at a Chinese restaurant in Markham, Ontario, I thought it was one of the best noodle dishes I had ever tried. Any time I see dan dan noodles on a restaurant’s menu, I always order it.
Ingredients
Ground Meat
- Ground pork – Dan dan noodles are usually made with ground pork, but I believe it’ll still taste good with other types of ground meat too.
- Shaoxing wine – This is for deglazing the pan. Cooking sake or rice wine are also good substitutes.
- Soy sauce – Adds umami or savoury flavour
- Oyster sauce – Also boosts umami in the dish
- Five spice powder – A Chinese spice blend consisting of 5 spices, and packs a tonne of flavour to meats. The five spice powder I used in this recipe contains cinnamon, star anise, mandarin peel, lemon grass, and cloves.
- Neutral-flavoured oil – For pan-frying the ground pork.
- Toasted sesame oil – toasted sesame oil adds more toasted and nutty flavours to the dish.
Spicy Sauce
- Sichuan peppercorns, ground – causes the numbing or tingling effect on the tongue. Buy the high quality type that only has the husks and doesn’t contain the black seeds. The black seeds are bitter and gritty and causes a sandy texture in your final dish.
- Tahini – Make sure that the tahini is well-stirred before use. This adds a nutty flavour and creamy texture to the sauce.
- Garlic – We’ll fry the garlic for extra toasted and umami flavour.
- Chili garlic sauce – I like to use the Lee Kum Kee brand of chili garlic sauce, since I find it has the best flavour and a vibrant red colour and is not as sour as other brands of chili garlic pastes.
- Chinese chili oil – This can be very spicy if you add a lot, so you can add this according to your spice tolerance.
- Five spice powder – added for extra flavour
- Soy sauce – adds umami
- Honey/ sugar – You can use either type of sweetener to help balance out the flavours.
To Assemble Noodle Bowls
- Preserved mustard greens – Suimiyacai is traditionally used in dan dan noodles. You may substitute with other types of preserved Chinese vegetables if you can’t find this in your Asian supermarket. Suimiyacai has a unique flavour and it goes well with the ground pork as it cuts the fat from it.
- Green onion – An optional garnish
- Crushed peanuts – Peanuts are usually served with dan dan noodles, but you can substitute with sesame seeds if you’re allergic.
- Dan dan noodles – Very thin wheat noodles.
- Baby bok choy – I find that baby bok choy suits this dish the most, but you can use chopped large bok choy or spinach too, as long as it’s easy to mix all the components together in the noodle bowl in the end.
How to Make Dan Dan Noodles
In a small bowl, mix tahini, chili garlic sauce, Chinese chili oil, olive oil, five spice powder, soy sauce, and sugar or honey. Be careful with the chili oil. Make sure that the sauce is at a spice level that you’re comfortable with. Start with maybe half the chili oil for this recipe and add more to taste.
Pan-fry the minced garlic until aromatic and slightly browned. Stir in and toast ground Sichuan peppercorns for 20 to 30 seconds. Remove from heat. Mix the garlic and Sichuan peppercorns into the sauce mixture.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once at a rolling boil, add dan dan noodles and cook according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I only had to cook mine for 2 minutes.
First, cook the baby bok choy. If you don’t want to wait for a whole pot of water to boil to blanch your greens, bring about an inch of water to a boil and add your greens in. Cover with a lid and allow it to cook for 4 minutes. Then, drain and set aside the greens.
Pan-fry the ground pork in neutral-flavoured oil until browned at medium high heat, while constantly breaking it up as it cooks so that the ground meat doesn’t clump together to form large chunks. Add shaoxing wine and stir for 30 seconds to deglaze. Stir in soy sauce, oyster sauce, five spice powder, and toasted sesame oil until well-combined. Set aside.
Now it’s time to assemble the noodle bowls! First, put a little mound of dan dan noodles into the bowl, and then arrange the bok choy, preserved mustard greens and ground pork neatly on top. I like to place the ground pork in the middle of the bowl, and then top with chopped green onions and peanuts. Finally, drizzle with the spicy sauce from earlier.
Dan Dan Noodles
Dan dan noodles are spicy yet numbing thin wheat noodles with savoury ground pork and flavourful preserved mustard greens topped with bok choy, green onions and chopped peanuts.
4
servings30
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Ingredients
- Ground Pork
1 lb ground pork
neutral-flavoured oil
1 tbsp shaoxing wine (or rice wine)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
- Spicy Sauce
1/2 cup tahini
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
2 – 3 tbsp Chinese chili oil
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp five spice powder
1 tbsp soy sauce
1.5 tsp sugar (or honey)
5 cloves garlic
neutral-flavoured oil
2 tsp Sichuan peppercorns, ground
- To Assemble Noodle Bowls
1 lb dan dan noodles
4 cups baby bok choy
1/4 cup peanuts, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1 pkg suimiyacai (preserved mustard greens)
Directions
- Mix tahini, chili garlic sauce, Chinese chili oil, olive oil, five spice powder, soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl.
- Pan-fry the minced garlic in neutral-flavoured oil and then toast the ground Sichuan peppercorns for 20 – 30 seconds. Mix the garlic and Sichuan peppercorns into the sauce mixture.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the dan dan noodles according to the manufacturer’s instructions or for 2 minutes. Then, drain and set the noodles aside.
- Bring another pot of water to a boil. Add the baby bok choy and blanch for 3 – 4 minutes covered. Drain and set aside.
- Pan-fry the ground pork in neutral-flavoured oil until browned at medium high heat.
- Stir in shaoxing wine for 30 seconds, and then stir in soy sauce, oyster sauce, five spice powder and sesame oil until well-combined. Set the ground pork aside.
- Assemble the noodle bowls by first laying down dan dan noodles into the bowl and then placing bok choy, ground pork, peanuts, green onion and preserved mustard greens on top. Drizzle with the spicy sauce and it’s ready to serve!
