An Inspired Cook

I came across an old recipe from Cooking Light that I have been wanting to try for awhile.  Being unfamiliar with Dan Dan Noodles, I was a little skeptical on how it would turn out but to my surprise it was quite good.  There are a lot of flavors going on in the cooked pork and the cucumbers provide a crunch and flavor that compliments this dish.  Paired with a side salad this was an easy tasty meal.

To prep the pork I needed some soy sauce, Chinese rice wine and white pepper.

In a medium sized bowl I placed the ground pork and added 1/4 cup of soy sauce.

And 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine.

And finally 1/2 teaspoon pepper.  Mix this all together and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Besides the pork you’ll need some ginger root, garlic, roasted red chili paste, soy sauce, sugar, some Chinese noodles of your choice, lime juice, sliced green onion, cilantro peanuts and diced cucumber.

Start by making the sauce that will season the ground pork.  Grate a 1 inch piece of ginger root and 2 cloves garlic.  Add 1 tablespoon roasted red chili paste.

To the mix add 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 tablespoons soy sauce.

Give it a good stir and set aside.

Dice your cucumbers, green onions and roughly chop the cilantro.  I also ran a knife through 1/4 cup of dry roasted peanuts.

Before you brown your ground pork, strain out as much liquid as possible.  Pat dry with a paper towel if necessary.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of peanut oil in a skillet.

Heat to medium high heat before adding ground pork.

Once the pork has browned check to see if you need to drain any excess grease.  If your good, add the soy ginger sauce and turn the heat down to medium.  At this point I cooked my Chinese rice noodles.  Cook according to package directions.  These noodles only needed 4 – 6 minutes which was a good amount of time to let my pork mixture simmer.

Just before serving, add about half of your sliced green onions and lime juice.

Place some noodles in the bowl and spoon some of the seasoned pork mixture over top.  Top with diced cucumber, cilantro, green onions and dry roasted peanuts.





Dan Dan Noodles (adapted from Cooking Light Magazine November/2009)
1 pound Ground Pork
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
1/4 cup Chinese Rice Wine
1/2 teaspoon White Pepper

Sauce
3 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1 tablespoon Roasted Red Chile Paste
1 inch piece of Ginger Root, grated on a microplane coarse grater
2 cloves Garlic, grated on a microplane grater
1 teaspoon Sugar

1 pound Chinese Rice Noodles
1/2 large Cucumber, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup Green Onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Cilantro, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons Lime Juice
1/4 cup Dry Roasted Peanuts
1 tablespoon Peanut Oil

Marinate the ground pork with 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup Chinese rice wine and 1/2 teaspoon white pepper for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Make sauce by combining grated ginger root, grated garlic, roasted chili paste, sugar and soy sauce.  Mix together with a fork or small whisk and set aside.

Heat peanut oil in a large skillet over high heat.  Strain the pork of as much of the marinade liquids as possible.  Pat dry with a paper towel if necessary.  Add the pork to the hot skillet and cook until browned and crumbly.  If necessary, drain any excess oils.  Pour the soy ginger sauce into the pork and turn down the heat to medium to simmer. Before serving, add about 1/3 cup of the sliced green onions and lime juice.

Cook rice noodles according to package directions, and drain.  Assemble noodles in bowls, top with seasoned ground pork, diced cucumbers, sliced green onions, chopped cilantro and peanuts.

Makes 4 – 6 servings