Fiery Dan Dan Noodles

Dish of the Week: Szechuan Style Noodles with Minced Beef

My friend Lee got Jamie Oliver's cookbook 'Jamie's America' for Christmas last year and he made some amazing dishes from the cookbook. He was so kind to share one of the recipes with me, and it has become an all time favorite of mine. As Jamie Oliver explains in his book the recipe originates from the Szechuan province of China, and he got the recipe from a restaurant in New York during his stay in America. The name originates from how the dish is traditionally made in Szechuan province, which is in big buckets that they carry over their shoulder. The word dan translates in to poles in Chinese hence the name can be directly translated to "pole pole noodles", whereas I think Fiery Dan Dan Noodles sounds much better. 






Serves 4 People
Ingredients:
1 beef or chicken stock cube, preferably organic
500g minced beef
2 tablespoons of runny honey
300g wheat noodles (I use Singapore style noodles)
4 handfuls of mixed green vegetables: Chinese cabbage, sprouting broccoli, bok choy and spinach)
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons freshly ground Szechuan pepper
5 tablespoons good quality chili oil
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 lime, quartered, for serving
1/2 a green chili
1/2 a red chili (Chili is optional, I have added it to the dish as I like my food spicy) 


Optional- making your own Chili Oil: 
Use a handful of dried chillies that you toast in the oven to bring the flavor out, then add them to a food processor with a bottle of groundnut oil to mix it well together, and then pour it back in to the bottle when fully combined. It will keep in the cupboard for well over a year.


How to Make the Dish

Fiery Dan Dan Noodles are very easy to make, and I normally start with adding the cube of beef stock to a large pan with water in it, and let it cook up. Whilst the water is heating up I fry the mince in a frying pan on medium to high heat until it is golden and crunchy. I then use a colander to pour away excess fat and water, and  put the mince back on the frying pan. I then add the finely chopped chilies and honey, and stir until the mince is finely coated (no longer than a couple of minutes as I don't want it to dry out).

Rinse the green vegetables and cut the cabbage into 1 cm strips, quarter the bok choy, snap up the broccoli spears and cut the spinach into 1 cm strips as well. While you are cutting the green vegetables finely chop the garlic cloves and spring onions as well. When the water is boiling add the Singapore style noodles and let it cook according to the instructions on the packet. When the noodles have 1 minute to go add in the green vegetables (not garlic and spring onion yet) and blanch them. Then drain it in a sink with a measuring jug under the colander so that you can keep a mugful of the water which will be poured back in to the hot pan along with the noodles and green vegetables.

Add the finely chopped garlic, soy sauce, Szechuan pepper and chili oil to the noodles/green vegetables and stir it with thongs. Divide the vegetables and noodles into four even bowls, and sprinkle each bowl with the beef mince (I reheat the mince quickly towards the end) and scatter  spring onions over the dish and serve with a quarter of a lime. 

The reason why I love this dish is that it is so easy to make after coming home from work, and when you bite in to it you can taste all the different fresh ingredients and how well they go together. If you want to treat yourself to a glass of something nice with the food, a glass of chilled New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc wine or a cold beer goes well with this dish. 


I hope this dish tempts your taste buds and make you sweat a little bit from the chili...
Linnemoren