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Chengdu zajiang mian
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Chengdu Zajiang Noodles (Zajiangmian, 杂酱面)

Author: Taylor Holliday | The Mala Market | Inspiration & Ingredients for Sichuan Cooking

Ingredients

Pork topping for 4-6 servings

  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 3 Sichuan pickled erjingtiao chilies, minced (or sub 1 tablespoon Pixian doubanjiang)
  • 1 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1½ cups water
  • 2 tablespoons Chinese light soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons Chinese dark soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon tianmianjiang (sweet wheat sauce)

Sauce ingredients PER BOWL/SERVING

  • 1 small clove garlic, pressed or grated
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated ginger
  • 2 tablespoons Sichuan-style chili oil (half oil, half crisp) adjust to taste
  • 1 tablespoon Chinese light soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon Chinese black vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon roasted sesame oil
  • ¼ teaspoon freshly ground Sichuan pepper (see note) adjust to taste
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ⅛ teaspoon sugar
  • ⅛ teaspoon MSG optional
  • 1 teaspoon lard optional, but pretty key
  • 3 tablespoons water that noodles boiled in
  • thinly sliced green onions for garnish

4 ounces (100 grams) dried, or 6 ounces fresh, alkaline wheat noodles per serving

    Additional, optional toppings

    • baby bokchoy, boiled in noodle water also good: cabbage, spinach, yuchoy
    • hard-fried egg
    • pickled long beans, cut in ½-inch pieces

    Sesame Variation

    • 1 teaspoon roasted sesame paste added to sauce adjust to taste

    Instructions

    • First make the pork topping. Heat wok over a high flame until wisps of heat start to rise, add 2 tablespoons caiziyou or other cooking oil and heat until hot. Add pork, vigorously breaking it up with your spatula into the smallest crumbles possible. Cook pork until starting to brown and most of its juices have been cooked off. Push pork to the sides of the wok to make a well in the center and add the pickled chilies and garlic. Let cook briefly and then stir-fry with the pork. Add the water, light and dark soy sauces and sweet wheat paste and bring to a low boil. Let simmer over low heat, stirring frequently, for about 15 minutes. Add more water if necessary to maintain a wet sauce.
    • Meanwhile, put a large pot of water on to boil. Add bokchoy (if using) and boil until just done. Remove bokchoy and reserve. Add noodles to same pot and cook until tender. Remove 1 cup of noodle water and reserve, before draining noodles. (Better yet, try to time it so you can lift the noodles from the pot directly into the bowls of waiting sauce.)
    • While noodles are cooking, prepare a bowl for each individual serving. Add garlic and ginger to bowl with 2 tablespoons water. Add chili oil with crisp, soy sauce, vinegar, roasted sesame oil, Sichuan pepper powder, salt, sugar, MSG and pork lard (if using) to each bowl. Add 3 tablespoons hot noodle water to each bowl.
      Variation: For a nutty, sesame version, add 1 teaspoon or more roasted sesame paste to sauce in each bowl. (Most often it would not be included in Chengdu.)
    • If using eggs, fry them in oil until completely cooked on each side, one per serving.
    • Place a mound of cooked noodles on top of the sauce in each bowl. Top with desired amount of pork, plus baby bokchoy and/or fried egg and/or pickled long beans. Garnish with green onions. Each diner should thoroughly mix the noodles with the sauce on the bottom and the pork topping before digging in. (If you misjudge the noodle to sauce ratio, add a bit more reserved noodle water to create additional sauce.)

    Notes

    Ground Sichuan pepper: Sort Sichuan peppercorns and discard any black seeds or twigs. Toast in a dry skillet or toaster oven until pods start to smell very fragrant, but do not brown them. Let peppercorns cool, then grind in a spice grinder or in a mortar & pestle to your desired coarseness. Sichuan pepper powder will retain its potent flavor and numbing punch for only a few weeks.