Ken Hom’s Vegan friendly Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles

Food has a great significance during Chinese New Year and noodles is a must-have dish. Noodles signify longevity and you will find noodles on most reunion dinner menus during Chinese New Year’s Eve.

This Spicy Dan Dan Noodles was originally a very popular Sichuan dish but you can find it lots of Chinese restaurants now.

This is Ken Hom’s recipe for Lee Kum Kee, one of Hong Kong’s most well-known brand of sauces. Not only is this very easy to make, it’s hot, spicy umami flavour makes it a very delicious quick meal too. Using some ingredients that are quite easy to find in major supermarkets today, you can whip this up in no time.

Here are some substitutions if you can’t find the sauces mentioned, you can use Sriracha instead of chilli garlic sauce, just add a bit of extra garlic if you use this. You can use any chilli oil, including the cult favourite chilli crisp.

In my pantry, I always have dried egg noodles at home and you can use these noodles as an alternative if you can’t find the other type. If you can’t find any Chinese noodles, you can also use spaghetti, but cooked beyond the al dente stage.

Give it a go and let me know if you do.

Here are some other recipe ideas for Chinese New Year

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Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles

“This vegetarian version of the popular Sichuan traditional ‘dan-dan noodles’, is meatless and is lighter than the original. Use your imagination with any of your favourite vegetables like courgette or carrots, or even cucumber. It is the sauces that gives this noodle dish its full bite of chillies, garlic and other seasonings without the heaviness. These noodles are usually served after a meal, making a tasty finale. But I think this recipe can be easily a delicious part of any meal or a simple main dish.” – Ken Hom

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Ingredients

1 tablespoon groundnut or vegetable oil
110 g courgette finely chopped
1 tablespoon garlic finely chopped
2 teaspoons fresh ginger finely chopped
2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
2 tablespoons Lee Kum Kee chilli garlic sauce
2 teaspoons Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow Chilli oil
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee Premium dark soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
450 ml 16 fl oz vegetarian stock
225 g 8oz whole wheat noodles

Instructions

Heat a wok or large frying pan over high heat and add the oil. Add the courgette, garlic, ginger and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the rest of the ingredients. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes over low heat.
Cook the noodles in a large pot of boiling water according to the pack instructions. Drain them well in a colander. Divide the noodles into individual bowls and ladle the sauce over them. Serve at once.