Café China’s Dan Dan Noodles

There is another recipe here in the NYT for Dan Dan Noodles and the author uses peanut butter instead of sesame paste. It seems to have good reviews on the whole. Obviously, you would need to leave out the sesame oil he uses. Hope that helps!

This was a great recipe. I reduced the pepper flakes and cayenne as suggested here, but I wish I hadn’t. Given that you are largely infusing the oil and adding other ingredients, I would suggest making it as outlined in the recipe. As written, the recipe seems complex and has many step, but it is rather simple (a great thing). I would recommend making the sauce and setting it aside and then work on the pork and noodles, rather than trying to juggle so much at once.

Please feel free to make one and tell us all about it.

Almost really good. Used Asian sesame paste, and the toasted flavor was awesome. I grew up with Maggi seasoning so subbed fish sauce, which we prefer. MAJOR PROBLEM. I used the dark mushroom soy sauce in a smaller amount than indicated. It was so extremely salty that we threw the dish out. My brother, who lived in China for 25 years, said that one should never use more than a dash of this. I’ll just get a different recipe in the future because we love Dan Dan noodles.

I use the recipe from Woks of Life. If you haven’t seen it, I recommend you look at it, It’s fabulous!

This really needs Szechuan peppercorn and Chinkiang black vinegar to taste like the versions I’ve had in Xi’an and Chongqing. Cook’s Illustrated has a recipe that’s similar to this but gets the details right.

This was fantastic. I had to substitute blanched sprouted bean sprout greens and baby spinach for the snow pea shoots, but it was wonderful. The suimiyacai was a new ingredient for me, but I really liked it. :) I love heat and thought the sauce was amazing, but for those that don't like it too hot you might want to halve the red pepper flakes when making the chili oil.

My heart burst when I saw this was the featured recipe. My boyfriend and I stumbled upon Cafe China seven years ago on a visit to NYC and we had one of the best meals of our vacation there. A project for this weekend, while our hope stays high for a return to the real thing. Thanks for this.

I have a beloved version of this recipe I've made many times and the chili oil includes sichuan peppercorns. That's what makes it truly special. I'm surprised it's missing here.

Used leftover chicken breast and questionable arugula, noodles were ramen. Anything made with the infused oil in this recipe would be fantastic.

We loved the dish at dinner! Definitely will make again! Had a bit leftover and put a crispy sunny side egg on top and it was a heavenly breakfast!

Puzzled. I don’t see egg listed as an ingredient.

I made this less authentically and decidedly more low-rent, with plain soy sauce, peanut butter instead of tahini, bagged baby spinach instead of pea shoots, cheap ramen noodles, and without the mustard greens. I also just threw the chili oil and other sauce ingredients into the pan with the cooked pork and stirred it together, which made this feel more achievable for weeknight dinner. I do think the Maggi was worth ordering online though. Even with those changes, this was amazingly delicious!

Yes; they are almost the same recipe.

Wow. This was great, and easy. Definitely a keeper. I worried about the preserved mustard greens because they are so intense, but they just add a nice background note.