Pork Chilli Noodles

Here's one noodle dish that's so easy to make and with few ingredients. You just need some sotanghon (aka bean thread noodles or glass noodles), a little minced pork, some chilli bean sauce, soy sauce, garlic, green onion and you're done! My blogging friend Stel rightly pointed our to me that this is actually the Szechuan dish called Ants Climbing A Tree. Gosh, I didn't know that. :facepalm:

I adapted this from the Chinese Cuisine cookbook by Huang Su-Huei. Adjustments were made to the soy sauce (it was originally quite salty) and the chilli bean sauce (too hot for me) and eliminated the salt. Other than that it was easy peasy to make. Previously, I soak the sotanghon but I stopped doing that to keep it from getting overcooked since I simmer it in the stock anyway for a few minutes.


Pork Chilli Noodles

100 g  sotanghon (bean thread or glass noodles)
125 g  [1/2 cup] minced pork
2 Tbsp chopped green onions
1/2 Tbsp chopped ginger
1/2 Tbsp chilli bean sauce
1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 cups stock
2 Tbsp cooking oil

1. Soak the sotanghon in water until soft (about 20-30 minutes). Drain. Cut to desired lengths.
2. Mix stock, soy sauce, and sugar in a bowl or container. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in wok. Stir-fry pork for about 3-4 minutes. (Optional) Add about 1/3 cup hot water or stock and simmer pork until water evaporates. This is in case you want the minced pork to be tender.
4. Turn up heat and add green onions, ginger, and chilli bean sauce. Stir fry for about 1 minute or until green onion and ginger becomes aromatic.
5. Add stock mixture and sotanghon. Bring to boil then turn heat to low and cook for about 3-4 minutes or until the liquid has almost completely evaporated. (Optional) While cooking, cut sotanghon to desired length once soft enough.
6. Dish up and serve.