Sichuan Noodles 4 Ways - Fuschia Dunlop: Graduate of the Sichuan Higher Institute of Cuisine 🌞

Noodle dishes (clockwise from top left):

Spicy cold noodles with chicken slivers,
Yibin "kindling" noodles,
Mr. Xie's sea-flavor noodles
Xie Laoban's dan dan noodles


XIE LAOBAN'S DAN DAN NOODLES
niu rou dan dan mian


The grandfather of a friend of mine was a chef, and he came to
Chengdu before the war, eager to discover the secrets of Sichuanese
cooking.When he arrived he made his way to a famous restaurant
that served an extraordinarily delicious fried beef. He begged the
chef to teach him the recipe but was rudely turned away. Undeterred
in his quest, he crept back to the restaurant after closing time and
stole the bundles of rubbish lying outside. Inside the bundles he
found half-eaten remains of the fabled dish, from which he was able
to deduce the ingredients and cooking method and make a tasty
imitation.


The following recipe is my own recreation of a legendary and
unique version of dan dan noodles served in a tiny restaurant
near Sichuan University. It is the fruit of repeated visits to the
restaurant over a number of years, during which I begged and
cajoled the unsmiling proprietor Mr. Xie for his culinary secrets.
On one occasion he told me the ingredients of the delicious meaty
topping; other times he let me watch as his cooks prepared the
seasonings in the noodle bowls. He may have withheld a detail or
two, but the following recipe has met with the wholehearted approval
of several of the restaurant's most devoted and regular customers.

These noodles are not for the fainthearted—they are shamelessly
spicy, but utterly delicious to those who know them well. They are
generally served in individual bowls, each containing a smattering
of sauce ingredients, a small portion of noodles, and a teaspoon or
two of ground meat. I have, however, given instructions for one large
bowlful.

In Chengdu the dish is made with fresh flour-and-water noodles,
delivered every day in a pile of flour-dusted bamboo baskets. Here,
simple flour-and water noodles are only available dried, but you
could use fresh egg noodles if you prefer.

Serves 4 as a starter or a snack, 2 for a hearty lunch

1 pound of fresh Chinese noodles or 12 ounces dried Chinese noodles

FOR THE MEAT TOPPING

1 tablespoon peanut oil
3 Sichuanese dried chiles, snipped in half, seeds discarded
1/2 teaspoon whole Sichuan pepper
2 tablespoons Sichuanese ya cai or Tianjin preserved vegetable
4 ounces ground beef
2 teaspoons light soy sauce
salt to taste

FOR THE SAUCE

1/2-1 teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons sesame paste
I tablespoon light soy sauce
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
2 tablespoons chili oil with chile flakes



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YIBIN "KINDLING" NOODLES
yi bin ran mian

This noodle dish is one of the more famous culinary exports of
the southern city of Yibin. Its Chinese name is hard to translate,
but ran literally means to ignite or kindle a flame. Some say the
dish is so called because the noodles, in their dry, oil-based sauce,
resemble the rush wicks used in old-fashioned oil lamps; others
that it's because the noodles are sometimes finished off with a
drizzling of smoking-hot oil, which makes them crackle like a
kindling fire. The dish is easy to make and robustly tasty—a fine
vegetarian lunch.

Serves 4 as a starter or a snack, 2 for a hearty lunch

4 ounces pea shoots or baby spinach leaves
2-3 tablespoons lard or peanut oil
10 ounces dried Chinese noodles

FOR THE TOPPING

2 tablespoons walnut meats
2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon peanut oil
4 tablespoons Sichuanese ya cai orTianjin preserved vegetable
3 scallions, green parts only


FOR THE SAUCE

3 tablespoons chili oil
2 teaspoons sesame oil
4 teaspoons dark soy sauce
4 teaspoons light soy sauce

1 Heat the oven to 250°F. When it is hot, place the walnuts and
peanuts on a baking sheet and roast them for 20 minutes until
they are crisp and fragrant. Turn them onto a cutting board and
chop them into tiny pieces "like rice grains." Toast the sesame
seeds for 3—4 minutes in a dry wok over a gentle flame until
they are fragrant and delicious. Set aside.

2 Heat I tablespoon of peanut oil in a wok over a high flame. Add
the preserved vegetable and stir-fry for about half a minute, until
it is fragrant. Set aside.

3 Finely slice the scallions. Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl.

4 Blanch the green vegetable leaves briefly in boiling water and
refresh them immediately under the cold tap. Drain well and divide
up among 4 individual serving bowls. Add l-l 1/2 teaspoons of
peanut oil or lard to each bowl.

5 Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the package.
Drain them well and divide them among the serving bowls. Drizzle
each bowl with a quarter of the sauce mixture, and top each one
with a spoonful of chopped nuts, a spoonful of sesame seeds, a
spoonful of preserved vegetable, and a spoonful of scallion slices.
These toppings are traditionally added in separate piles, so the dark
vegetable, pale nuts and seeds, and green scallions create an
attractive checkerboard effect.

Serve immediately, and let your guests mix everything together at the table.



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MR. XIE'S SEA-FLAVOR NOODLES
hai wei mian

Because Sichuan is an inland province ringed by mountains and
cut off from the plains and oceans to the east, fresh seafood has
historically been absent from the local diet. Dried seafood, however,
was traditionally brought to the region by traders from the
coast, who exchanged it for local goods like medicinal plants and
other forest exotica. Expensive delicacies like dried abalone have
long been part of Sichuanese haute cuisine, and they feature in
the earliest regional cookbook, the eighteenth-century xing yuan lu
by Li Huanan. But while eating exotic dried seafood is still the
privilege of the wealthy, other fruits of the sea like dried shrimp and
mussels do find their way into a few everyday dishes. The following
noodle dish is called sea-flavor noodles because it includes a small
amount of dried seafood, usually shrimp and mussels, in addition to
the more ordinary pork and mushrooms. It's a well-established
Chengdu snack, but this recipe is based on the peculiarly delicious
seafood noodles served by Mr. Xie in his noodle shop near Sichuan
University.

Serves 2-4, depending on appetite

1 ounce dried Chinese mushroonns
1 ounce dried shrimp
1/2 pound boneless pork loin, with some fat
1/4 pound fresh button mushrooms
6 ounces bamboo shoots
3 tablespoons lard, chicken fat, or peanut oil
2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or medium-dry sherry
about I 1/4 quarts chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
12 ounces Chinese dried noodles

1 Soak the dried mushrooms and shrimp for 30 minutes in enough
hot water to cover them generously.

2 Cut the pork into slices about 1/8 inch thick. Slice the fresh
mushrooms and bamboo shoots to match the pork. Blanch the
bamboo shoot slices in boiling water to refresh them.

3 When the dried mushrooms are soft, slice them too, reserving
the soaking water.

4 Heat the fat or oil in a wok or saucepan over a high flame. When
the oil is hot, add the pork and stir-fry until it whitens. Splash the
Shaoxing rice wine around the edges and let it sizzle. Add the fresh
mushrooms and bamboo shoots and stir-fry for another 20-30 seconds
until the mushrooms are just cooked. Add the shrimp, dried mushrooms,
soaking water, and stock. Bring to a boil, season with salt to taste, and
leave to simmer over a low flame for about an hour, until the pork is very
tender.

5 When the meat stew is nearly ready, season it with salt and pepper to
taste. Fill a separate saucepan with water and bring it to a boil—this will
be for cooking the noodles.

6 When the water is boiling, add the noodles. Cook them for a few
minutes until they are just done, then drain them in a colander. Divide
the noodles into four bowls, spoon over each a shade of the meat
mixture, and then fill up with the soupy stock.


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SPICY COLD NOODLES WITH CHICKEN SLIVERS
ji si Hang mian

This is an extremely easy, delicious dish that is distinctively
Sichuanese. Cold, moist noodles are served with blanched bean
sprouts and cooked chicken meat in a sauce that incorporates
many different flavors. Sichuanese cooks generally use noodles
made with wheat flour and water, but egg noodles can be used
as a substitute. You can either serve these noodles in a large
bowl or street-style in 4 small, individual bowls.

Serves 4 as a snack, 2-3 as a main lunch dish


about 1/2 pound fresh Chinese noodles, Shanghai style,
a little thicker than spaghetti
1 1/2 tablespoons peanut or salad oil
3 ounces bean sprouts
1 small cooked chicken breast or some leftover chicken meat
4 scallions, white and green parts, thinly sliced

SEASONINGS

2 tablespoons sesame paste, thinned with 1 tablespoon water
i 1/2 tablespoons dark soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 1/2 tablespoons Chinkiang
or black Chinese vinegar
1 tablespoon white sugar
2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon ground roasted Sichuan pepper
2-3 tablespoons chili oil with chile flakes
1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling water until they are just al
dente—take care not to overcook them. Rinse them with hot water
from the kettle, shake them in a colander and quickly spread them
out to dry. Sprinkle over the peanut oil and mix it in with chopsticks
to prevent the noodles from sticking together.

2 Blanch the bean sprouts for a few seconds in boiling water, then
refresh in cold water. Drain them well. Squash the chicken breast
slightly or whack it with a rolling pin to loosen the fibers, and tear
or cut it into slivers about 1/4 inch thick.

3 When the noodles and bean sprouts are completely cold, lay the bean
sprouts in the bottom of your serving bowl or bowls. Add the noodles.

4 To serve, either combine all the seasonings in a bowl and pour
the mixture over the noodles, or just scatter them over one by one.
Top the dish with a small pile of chicken slivers and a scattering
of scallions. Allow your guests to toss everything together at the table.

VARIATIONS

Vegetarians can omit the chicken and enjoy the nutty sauce.
A scattering of toasted sesame seeds is a nice addition.

All the above From "Land of Plenty"
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/94561.Land_of_Plenty

These are the real deal folks! Enjoy!