Dan Dan Noodles
Whole Grain Noodles | Organic Greens | Wild Boar | Cultured Veggies
Sichuan Chinese cuisine may just be my favorite worldwide, and Dan Dan Noodles are in my Sichuan top 3. The name means “bamboo pole noodles,” because the legendary street vendor who invented them carried a bamboo pole over his shoulders, with a bucket of noodles on one end, and a bucket of sauce on the other.
And that sauce! It’s hard to describe. I don’t have the adjectives. But imagine a richly spiced Chinese take on Bolognese… And having said that, there’s no one official way to do Dan Dan. Some Dan Dan’s are thin and oily, hot and salty. I like the dense ones, with thick sesame paste, browned minced pork, and pickled veggies for funk and acidity.
At home, Sichuan cuisine has always seemed daunting to me. The techniques are manageable enough, but the ingredient lists usually a whole handful of I don’t already have, and wouldn’t know what to do with otherwise. Here we sidestep that issue, and get our Dan Dan sauce ready-made out of a bottle, from the fine foodie folks at Chinese Laundry Kitchen. We use whole wheat linguine instead of fresh noodles you have to get at the Asian market. And we substitute Western fermented red cabbage (basically, sauerkraut) for the traditional Chinese preserved mustard greens, which you can never find without preservatives anyways. It all works. It’s better for you. And it is drop-dead delicious.
Serves 3 as a main
| 8 oz ground wild boar or vegan substitute** | 2 Tbsp peanut oil or clean vegetable oil |
| 1 tsp Chinese five-spice powder | 1 Tbsp soy sauce |
| 1½ tsp black bean paste with garlic | 1½ tsp coconut sugar |
| 8 oz whole wheat linguini, or gluten-free buckwheat ramen | 3 heads baby bok choy, separated into individual leaves |
| less than half a jar Chinese Laundry Kitchen dan dan sauce | ~½ cup fermented purple cabbage |
| Toppings: chopped roast peanuts, black sesame seeds, sliced scallions | |
Prepare the Meat (or ***substitute): sautee the wild boar in oil until well-browned. Add five-spice powder, soy sauce, black bean paste, and coconut sugar, and cook an additional minute. Set aside.
Prepare the Noodles and Wilted Greens: in a large pot, cook the noodles as per package directions. About a minute before they’re done, throw in the bok choy to blanch. Drain.
Prepare The Bowls: into each serving bowl, place a heaping tablespoon Chinese Laundry Kitchen Dan Dan Sauce (mixed very well beforehand). Put 1/3 of the noodles-and-greens in each, and top with 1/3 the meat. Add 1-2 forkfuls of the fermented cabbage. (Traditional recipes cook the pickled greens with the meat. We don’t, so we don’t kill the live probiotics).
Serve: bowls are traditionally served not already mixed up. That’s done at the table. Top each with minced scallions, chopped peanuts, black sesame seed, and whatever else your heart desires. Bring a little more dan dan sauce to the table in case anyone likes it spicier.
***vegetarian/vegan substitute for the wild boar…. Try 1 package Pumfu™ pumpkinseed tofu. It’s like a green, richer, soy-free version of tofu. Double the oil (since the Pumfu won’t render any fat), and then mash up the Pumfu™ with a fork.