What are Dan Dan noodles?

The name comes from the carrying pole, dàn in Chinese. Street vendors in Chengdu carried two baskets of noodles and sauce on it through the alleys and sold small bowls. In Sichuan you can still get Dan Dan Mian as a snack with a little sauce at the bottom of the bowl. Restaurants outside China serve it as a main course with more sesame paste and more sauce. This recipe follows the second version and allows 100 g of dried noodles per person.

The right ingredients

• Noodles: Thin Chinese wheat noodles, dried or fresh from the refrigerated section of an Asian grocery store. As a substitute, use thin mie noodles.
• Chili oil: Use chili oil with sediment. The oil brings the heat, and the flakes bring a roasted aroma. You can find homemade chili oil with sesame in the recipe for rayu.
• Sesame paste: Chinese sesame paste made from toasted seeds tastes darker than tahini. In the jar, oil settles on top, so stir it in before measuring. With tahini, add 1 tsp toasted sesame oil to the sauce.
• Ya cai: The sweet-salty pickled mustard greens from the city of Yibin in Sichuan give the pork its typical flavor. You can buy it in small bags at an Asian grocery store.
• Sichuan pepper: Buy whole peppercorns and grind them fresh. Ready-made powder from a bag tingles less.

How to make Dan Dan noodles

Spread the ground pork in the hot wok and leave it for a minute, until the underside is brown. Then break it up with the spatula. If you put the meat in a wok that is too small, it cooks in its own juices and stays gray. The sauce goes into the bowl first, with the noodles on top. With the starchy cooking water, the sesame paste binds into a glossy sauce. You mix everything at the table, so the pork stays crisp until the first bite.

Common mistakes

• Rinsing the noodles: Cold water washes off the starch, and the sauce clings less well. Put the noodles hot from the pot into the bowl.
• Too much sesame paste: The sauce turns pasty and covers the chili and vinegar. Stay at 2 tbsp for four servings.
• Burnt pepper: Over high heat the peppercorns turn black and bitter in seconds. Toast them over medium heat and swirl the pan.

Variations: vegetarian and as Dan Dan ramen

For a vegetarian version, fry 250 g finely chopped button mushrooms or crumbled firm tofu instead of pork until everything is brown and dry. Keep the rice wine and soy sauce for deglazing. Most people mean Japanese tantanmen by Dan Dan ramen: there the noodles swim in a broth with sesame paste and chili oil. You can find the recipe at tantanmen ramen. Another hot dish from Sichuan with ground meat and Sichuan pepper is mapo tofu.

What to serve with it

Against the heat, serve a cold Chinese cucumber salad. Stir the sauce without the cooking water a day ahead and keep it covered in the fridge. In the evening you cook the noodles and fry the pork, and dinner is on the table in 15 minutes.