Dan Dan Mien

My friend K told me about this recipe, A and I went right to it for our weekly Wednesday dinner. The recipe was surprisingly easy to follow despite having so many ingredients. A ended buying more meat than suggested in the original recipe, so we basically 1.5-ed the ingredients - portions may be a little off, but it worked. I was hesitant of this meal at first since I can't handle spice that well; fortunately, it wasn't bad at all. If anything, maybe next time, we should add more chili oil.

Note to Future Self: more chili oil, season meat longer, boiled egg

Ingredients

• Sichuan chili oil 
• Dan Dan Sauce
• 0.5 lb ground pork 
• 1.5 tsp soy sauce
• 1.5 tsp sesame oil 
• 6 cloves of garlic 
• 1 tbsp ginger (~1 piece) 
• 4 tbsp douban chili bean paste
• 3 tbsp rice wine 
• 4 cups chicken stock 
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp ground white pepper
• Asian white noodles (ex. flat udon noodles) 
• sprig of cilantro 

Instructions

1. Bring pot of water to boil to cook noodles according to package instructions. Drain and separate into two bowls. 
2. Meanwhile, mix ground pork with soy sauce and sesame oil. Set aside. 
3. Mince garlic and ginger. Combine with douban paste and peanut butter. 
4. In a medium pot, brown the pork in 1 tbsp oil. 
5. Add douban mixture and saute until fragrant, about 2 minutes. 
6. Add rice wine. 
7. Add chicken stock. 
8. Bring to simmer. Then add 1.5 tsp sugar to balance out saltiness. 
9. Add white ground pepper and simmer for another 5 minutes. 
10. Serve into bowls. Add sauce.  
11. Add chili on top to taste
12. Add cilantro. Enjoy! 

Source: Lady and Pups