Dan-Dan Noodles

The opening of Soho restaurant Bone Daddies in 2012 reignited my love for ramen, something I had fallen in love with in Japan some years before. The influx of ramen bars that followed has given me the means to pop out for a big steaming bowl of slurpy noodles pretty much whenever I want. I am still struggling to see any negatives in this.

For me, the best thing about ramen (aside from the ubiquitous barely-cooked egg that sits on top) is the huge whack of creamy, nutty sesame paste that characterises the sauce. So it was no surprise that a Chinese dish from the Sichuan region, Dan-Dan noodles, also heavy on the sesame, was going to be right up my street.

I first came across these noodles when watching BBC Two’s Exploring China with Ken Hom and Ching-He Huang. I had visited a couple of different Sichuan restaurants in London but had never tried this dish. This was quickly remedied after I bought the book: I have made this dish so many times and it has quickly become one of my favourite ways to use tahini.

Ken Hom’s Dan-Dan noodles recipe is remarkably simple: in very basic terms it is some fried pork mince, a sesame-based sauce and some noodles. Almost all of the ingredients can be found in ordinary supermarkets if you aren’t lucky enough to have some good Asian supermarkets nearby (we have three in Peckham). Do make sure that you buy proper Sichuan peppercorns before you make this recipe, and do not be tempted to substitute them with ordinary peppercorns. Sichuan peppercorns have this wonderful numbing heat that makes the cuisine of this part of China so interesting.

Dan-Dan Noodles

225g minced pork
1 tbsp light soy sauce
½ tsp salt
225ml vegetable oil
350g dried medium egg noodles
1 tbsp Sichuan peppercorns, toasted and ground
1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced lengthways

For the sauce
3 tbsp finely chopped garlic
2 tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
5 tbsp finely chopped spring onions
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp chilli oil
1 tsp salt
225ml chicken stock

In a small bowl, mix together the pork mince, soy sauce and salt. Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil. Fry the pork in the oil, using a spatula to break up into small pieces. When the pork is crispy, remove from the oil and drain on kitchen paper. Pour the oil into a separate bowl.

Cook the noodles according to packet instructions.

Return two tablespoons of oil back to the pain and reheat. Add the garlic, ginger and spring onions and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add the tahini, soy sauce, chilli oil, salt and stock and simmer for five minutes.

Divide the drained noodles between individual bowls. Ladle the sauce over the top of the noodles and pile on the fried pork. Sprinkle over the Sichuan peppercorns and garnish with the red chilli.

Serves two. Adapted from a recipe by Ken Hom.

One Year Ago: Butternut Risotto

Silk Road, Camberwell

Posted by gemmathomas7

There seems to be little point in crafting an introduction to this restaurant as it has, in recent years, become the worst kept secret in south London. If you want to show off your knowledge of hidden restaurant gems, this is not the one to mention. Unless you’re in the company of north Londoners, for many of them will barely have been to Camberwell, let alone Silk Road. In days gone by, you could rock up to this little cash-only restaurant without a reservation and be seated almost immediately. More recently however, following a number of rave reviews, including one by Jay Rayner, it is rammed almost every night of the week and nearly impossible to get a table before 9.30.

Of course, the glaringly obvious point would be that it had become a victim of its own success, however I can’t in any way declare this to be true. In fact, it seems to get better and better with each visit, which keeps us going back more than perhaps we ought to. Aside from the quality of the food, which I will get to shortly, this is one of the best value restaurants in London. Our bills have never exceeded £20 a head, including alcohol, and for that price we have feasted on an amount of food so obscene, an extended lie-down was required.

The funny thing is that Silk Road is one of those unassuming places on the busy Camberwell Church Street that you would just walk past if you didn’t know it was there. The ‘Cash Only’ sign in the window, the slightly faded red sign and the utilitarian communal benches inside does not give any indication that inside is some of the best Asian food in London. And it doesn’t have a website. I suppose that is part of its charm.

The cuisine at Silk Road could lazily be labelled ‘Chinese’, however it specialises in food from the Xinjiang region (the bit bordering Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan), with a few Sichuan dishes thrown in to boot. The central Asian influence is clear, with the smell of lamb and cumin wafting through the restaurant, and the prevalence of offal on the menu. Being a landlocked region, there is very little fish on offer, but some very good meat and vegetarian dishes. Forget any ideas of sweet and sour chicken and prawn crackers, you won’t get them here.

Despite the variety of carnivorous options, my two favourite dishes on the menu are made up of vegetables. The famous home-style aubergine is one of the most delicious dishes I have ever tasted: tender aubergine and tomato cooked with a huge amount of garlic and an underlying pop of chilli. The ‘cucumbers in sauce’, also known as ‘smacked cucumbers’ are served raw in a sharp soy-based sauce, also heavily laced with garlic and chilli. They are wonderful as a cold starter, but I have to say that I prefer the smacked cucumbers from nearby Wuli Wuli (sorry). Another excellent dish is the home-style cabbage, which I sadly always pass up in favour of the aubergine, but fully intend to order next time.

Cucumbers in sauce

Home-style aubergine

The aforementioned smell of lamb and cumin comes from the lamb shish skewers that seem to be on just about every order in the restaurant. Heavy with cumin, with the afterburn of chilli, these come straight from the grill and smell so good, you will almost inevitably burn your fingers trying to pull the meat from the skewers. The pieces of lamb are interspersed with little cubes of lamb fat, which I am not overly keen on, but which my husband loves. These skewers are £1 each (yes, £1) with a minimum order of five per table. For me, ordering any less than three for just myself is not an option.

Lamb shish skewers

Another favourite is the twice-cooked pork, which is a one of the few Sichuan dishes on the menu (the countries bordering the Xinjiang region are muslim, so pork is rarely eaten there). I have had this dish in a number of other restaurants and it consists of slices of belly pork, boiled then fried (hence ‘twice-cooked’) with an oil-based sauce of chillies and lip-numbing Sichuan peppercorns. Silk Road’s offering doesn’t quite have the level of heat that we usually expect from Sichuan dishes, but it does have an unexpected sweetness which makes it pleasant, if slightly inauthentic. The best part about it is the soft, sweet Chinese onions that I pick out and eat with a little boiled rice. I could happily live on these alone.

Middle-plate chicken

Silk Road’s speciality is, undoubtedly, their noodle dishes. The ‘large plate’ and middle plate’ options are huge bowls of soup with meat and wide ‘belt’ noodles of at least an inch wide. A lot of Chinese friends favour the tripe, but we will often order the chicken. Pieces of chicken on the bone, served in a spiced thick soup with the enormous noodles slithered in by the waiter at the table. Middle plate is ample for two, especially if it makes up part of a wider banquet – those noodles are incredibly filling. Best of all are the smaller, and more manageable, hand-pulled noodles – glutinous and soft without being sticky – the person who makes these obviously knows what they are doing. Ours came with lamb and cabbage, as well as the obligatory punch of chilli and onion that characterises the restaurant’s dishes. These came last to the table and we were unable to finish them, so our waiter kindly packed them in a box to take home.

(If you do find yourself with an extended wait for a table, put your name down in the book and head down to Stormbird, a few doors down, for a pint)

Silk Road, 49 Camberwell Church Street, London SE5 8TR