Dan Dan Mien (Noodles)

Dan Dan Mien

Source 1: Q&A: Sichuan Food Expert Fuchsia Dunlop - A Mighty Appetite
Source 2: Seasaltwithfood: Dan Dan Mien (Noodle)

Xie Laoban's Dan Dan Noodles
From "Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper" by Fuchsia Dunlop

Ingredients
30 oz fresh Chinese flour-and-water noodles

For the meat topping:
1 tbsp canola oil
1 inch of ginger, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 Sichuanese dried chiles (if you can't find, substitute small red chiles of your choice), cut in half, seeds discarded
1/2 tsp whole Sichuan (aka Szechuan) pepper
1 Tbsp plus 2 tsp Sichuanese ya cai or Tianjin preserved vegetable, minced
3/4 lb ground pork
2 tsp soy sauce


For the sauce:
1/2 tsp Sichuan pepper, toasted and ground
2 Tbsp sesame paste (tahini is a great substitute)
3 Tbsp + 2 tsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp chili oil, plus sediment from jar, if possible
1 Tbsp Xiao Xing rice wine

Method

1. Prep a large pot of water to boil the noodles in
2. In a small mixing bowl, combine all sauce ingredients. Either portion sauce among individual serving bowls or into one large bowl.
3. Peel and mince the ginger and garlic
4. Mince the Ya Cai vegetables
5. Cook the noodles according to directions
6. Heat peanut oil in a wok over moderate heat. 
7. Add the Sichuan pepper and stirfry briefly until oil is spicy and fragrant. Be careful not to burn spices.
8. Add the ginger and garlic
9. Add pickled vegetables and continue to stir fry until hot and fragrant. 
10. Add meat and soy sauce and cook meat until brown and crisp.  Remove from heat.
11. Drain cooked noodles and combine with sauce, followed by meat mixture. With chopsticks, mix noodels so that sauce and meat are evenly distributed.

Notes
Spicy & salty!  We ran out of sichuan peppercorn, but it was still good.  I didn't use bok choy, but am planning on stir frying it as a side.  Here's the brand of Ya Cai we found.

Ya Cai

Update
Those were totally the wrong vegetables.  Look in the refrigerated section next time.  In Foster City, they're located near the vegetables.