Marital Conversation III/Dan Dan Beef Udon Noodles

Dan Dan Beef Udon Noodles

Hub : I will not be home for dinner tonight.

Me (usually never asking) : Who are you going to eat with?

Hub (laughing) : Why do you need to know?

Me : Why not?

Hub : With my mistress.

Me : Which is fine as long as it's not going to cost us money.

Hub : Don't worry, she's rich.

Me : OK then. Should have told me before, now I will have extra minced beef.


Dan Dan Beef Udon Noodles :

375g Minced Beef
2 Tbsp Light Soy sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 Tbsp Chinkiang Vinegar
1 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Chilli Oil
2 Tsp Dark Soy sauce
2 Tsp Sesame Oil
1 Tsp Peanut butter (optional)
1 Tbsp Chinese cooking wine
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 Tsp Szechuan peppercorns
1 Chilli padi
1 small Onion (sliced)
2 Garlic cloves (chopped)
1 slice Ginger (chopped)
1 small packet of Szechuan preserved vegetables (optional)
Spring onions or green of leek
250ml Beef or Chicken broth

1 hard-boiled Egg (optional)

Udon or fresh hand-made Chinese Noodles

Marinate the minced beef with the light soy sauce, salt and pepper for a few hours.

Mix the vinegars, sugar, dark soy, chilli oil, sesame oil, peanut butter, wine and corn starch.

There are many ways of making this dish and the simplest one would be to cook the meat, cook and drain the noodles, grind the sauces, garlic/ginger and oils together (omit the corn starch in this case) and just throw everything together.

I have decided to do it a little differently.

Heat up some peanut oil in a wok and fry the onion, garlic, Szechuan peppercorns, leeks, chilli and ginger till fragrant. Add the minced beef. Stir fry till the beef is just cooked, remove and set aside.

Cook the udon noodles and drain them.

Using the same wok, bring the sauce mixture to a boil and add the meat broth. Simmer for a few minutes.

Add the cooked udon to the sauce. Fish out and put into serving bowls.

Return the minced beef to the wok and to the sauce. Simmer till the sauce thickens. Ladle meat and sauce onto the udon noodles. And for some reason, I like to eat my Dan Dan noodles with chopped hard-boiled eggs.

The sky couldn't decide whether to rain or to snow and so it snowed and then the snow turns to water once it touches the ground. Having said that, 30 minutes later it finally made up its mind and the snow remained snow. Winter is having its say at the moment. Maybe we should ski again this weekend.