I’m a big fan of saucy or soupy noodles in the backcountry. In the mountains, when the temperatures drop in the evening, there’s nothing better than cosying up with a pot or bowl of warm, savoury, delicious noodles.
This recipe, as well as the Slurp-a-licious Gochujang Noodles, employ the same formula, with 5 basic building block ingredients:
- Quick-cooking noodles
- TVP for plant-based protein
- Dehydrated mushroom for fibre and texture
- Pre-made sauce
- Toppings
The ingredients call for wheat noodles, a spicy tahini-based dan dan sauce with a dash of sichuan pepper for the tongue-numbing effect that this dish is known for, and chopped peanuts for a crunchy topping. Use rice noodles to make it gluten-free and sesame seeds to make it peanut-free!
The sauce is the real deal and does most of the heavy lifting flavour-wise. But since it’s all prepared and packaged at home, you don’t need to worry about juggling multiple ingredients when camping. It all packs up nicely into one ziplock bag and serves 2 people.
Preparation is just as fuss-free as the other recipe: all dry ingredients go into the pot in one go. Once al dente in a couple of minutes, add the sauce and it’s ready to eat!
For more saucy noodle recipes, check out: Saucy Backcountry Pad Thai.
Dan Dan Noodles
Ingredients
Sauce Mix
- 2 tbsp chili oil use as per preferred heat levels
- 3 tbsp soy sauce
- 2½ tbsp white sesame paste or tahini
- 2 tsp sugar
- ¼ tsp Chinese five spice powder
- ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorn powder1
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- 2 tsp Shaoxing cooking wine optional
Base Ingredients
- 150 g wheat noodles2
- 50 g textured vegan protein or soy crumbles
- 10-15 g dehydrated mushrooms optional
- 2 tbsp chopped peanuts3 optional
Instructions
At Home
- Pack the sauce mix in a water-tight container, and the dry ingredients in a tight Ziploc bag. Note: The attached photo is missing the mushrooms, as they were packed separately, but all the dry ingredients can be combined, to keep things convenient.
At Camp
- Dump all the dry ingredients into the pot with sufficient water to cover, and bring to boil.
- Keep stirring to ensure nothing is sticking to the bottom of the pot, and add more water if it starts getting gloopy.
- Quick-cooking noodles should take only about 2-3 minutes (depending on your altitude) to be done. At this point, if there's excess water, pour some of it into the sauce container, and dump the rest. Ideally, there should not be a ton of extra water.
- Close the lid of the sauce container, swish around to get a nice pourable consistency, and pour into the pot with the noodles.
- Mix together so that everything is coated in the sauce uniformly, and enjoy!
Notes
- Add more of the sichuan pepper or the chili oil if you want more of a kick.
- Use whichever kind of noodles you have access to. To make it gluten-free, you can substitute with rice noodles instead.
- Omit the peanuts or replace with sesame seeds to keep the dish nut-free!