Cheat's dan dan noodles recipe
Dan dan noodles are a beloved takeout dish and this recipe manages to pack that epic flavour punch within a fraction of the time and ingredients. Frying the sausage and five-spice until crisp is a cheat’s way of emulating the traditional Sichuan peppercorn-spiced pork.
Ingredients
- 6 pork sausages
- 1 tsp five-spice powder
- 2 pak choi (bok choy)
- 2 spring onions (scallions)
- 2 tbsp tahini
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 2 –4 tbsp chilli oil with sediment (such as Lee Kum Kee)
- 2 x 300g (10.5oz) packs of straight to wok udon noodles
- 1 amount of neutral oil, such as groundnut, for frying
- 1 pinch each of salt and black pepper
Details
- Cuisine: Chinese
- Recipe Type: Noodles
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 10 mins
- Cooking Time: 10 mins
- Serves: 4
Step-by-step
- Get a large frying pan or wok over a high heat. Drizzle in a splash of neutral oil and then squeeze the sausages out of their skins straight into the pan. Add the five-spice powder and some salt and black pepper. Leave to fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the meat, until crisp.
- Meanwhile, slice the white stalks of the pak choi and separate the leaves but keep them whole. Finely slice the spring onions. Set both aside.
- Dan dan sauce time. Use a fork to mix together the tahini, dark soy sauce and as much chilli oil as you can handle with 2 tablespoons of hot water in a small bowl.
- Add the noodles and pak choi stalks to the pan with the sausage meat. Stir-fry, tossing everything together using tongs, for 1 minute, then pour in the dan dan sauce along with the pak choi leaves. Stir-fry for a further minute, then top the noodles with the sliced spring onions and divide between four bowls to serve.
This recipe is from Speedy MOB: 12-minute meals for 4 people by Ben Lebus, published by Pavilion Books on 3rd September. RRP £14.99. Photography by David Loftus.
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