According to Fuchsia Dunlop, dan dan noodles are named after the cry of hawkers roaming the streets of Chengdu with their wares hanging from a dan (or bamboo pole) across their shoulders. This is a firecracker of a dish: intensely savoury, and hot with smoky chilli and tingly Sichuan peppercorns, it’s traditionally served in small portions. But some rules are made to be broken.
Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Serves 2
1 tbsp Sichuan yibin yacai (pickled mustard greens; see step 1)
2 spring onions
1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
1 tbsp groundnut oil
100g minced pork (see steps 8 and 9)
1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine
1 tsp light soy sauce
175g fresh flour and water noodles
For the sauce
4 tbsp light soy sauce
2-4 tbsp Sichuan roasted chilli oil, with sediment, to taste
2 tsp Chianking black rice vinegar
½ tsp white sugar (optional)
1 A note on the ingredients
All these ingredients are widely available in Chinese grocers and online. If the mustard greens prove elusive, however, Tianjin preserved vegetables (rinsed first) make a decent substitute, or try a mixture of rinsed and finely chopped kimchi and capers for a similar combination of heat and salt, albeit with a different flavour profile.
2 Prep the vegetables
Rinse and finely chop the preserved vegetables. Slice the spring onions diagonally, then separate the white and green parts. Put the spring onion whites with the preserved vegetables and save the greens for the garnish later.
Toast the Sichuan peppercorns in a dry, hot pan until fragrant, leave to cool slightly, then grind or crush to a powder.
3 Start cooking
Put the oil in a large wok or frying pan on a high heat. Once it’s shimmering – this is important, because stir-frying requires intense heat – then add the pork and stir-fry until it starts to brown.
Add the chopped preserved vegetables, the spring onion whites and the ground pepper, and stir-fry for a couple of minutes more.
4 Add the liquids
Stir in the wine and soy sauce, and carry on stir-frying until the liquid reduces and the mixture is dryish and crunchy; the contrast in textures between the crisp meat and the slippery noodles is one of the things that makes this dish so satisfying, so don’t be tempted to rush this step.
5 Make the sauce
Meanwhile, whisk all the ingredients for the sauce, adding the fiery sediment from the chilli oil to taste; if you’re not sure of your audience, though, it pays to err on the side of caution, because you can always put the jar on the table for individual diners to use as a condiment.
6 Now for the noodles
Thin fresh noodles are ideal here, but dried flour and water ones will work, too; egg noodles work less well. Put the noodles in a pan of boiling water and cook until softened but still springy – how long this takes exactly will depend on the brand, so keep testing. Scoop out and reserve a cupful of the noodle water – this will go into the sauce – then drain the noodles.
7 Finishing touches
Whisk four tablespoons of the reserved cooking water into the sauce, then taste and add more chilli oil, if you think it needs it. Divide the sauce between two bowls, add the noodles, then sprinkle over the crisp pork and sliced spring onion greens. Serve immediately with extra chilli oil on the side.
8 A note on the meat …
This is a dish where the meat is more of a garnish and used in relatively small amounts, so it’s more easily substituted than in recipes where it plays a more integral role. If you don’t eat pork, you may be pleased to learn that beef is also commonly used in this dish.
9 … and for non-meat eaters
The easiest swap for non-meat eaters is soy mince, which I think works really well here, but J Kenji López-Alt has an interesting recipe on the Serious Eats website that involves dry-fried shredded mushrooms and is well worth checking out (he also uses them in mapo tofu, incidentally, should you require further inspiration).
