Our Taste of Home: Dan Dan Mian
By Leeann Lee
Growing up, my parents always treasured efficiency, and that permeated many aspects of my life from getting to school to cooking. One of the dishes that my dad would make quickly but was also incredibly delicious was 擔擔麵 (dan dan mian). This dish is inspired from the Sichuan dish dan dan mian, which is from Chengdu, and is usually soupless noodles with a meat sauce, served with chinese pickled cabbage on top of the dish. This dish is really simple to make, and I grew up eating a lot of variants of this dish.
My dad grew up in Taipei in difficult circumstances as he had seven other siblings. Though this dish was not something he grew up eating, he now can afford to eat the authentic version of this dish every day, but he chooses not to eat it. I have grown so accustomed to the way we make this dish at home that I do not order it at restaurants because the way it is made at home will always have my heart, and after all, it is cheaper. This just means that I can eat the dish whenever I want, which I’m not complaining about.
The simplicity of the spicy, nutty, and savory flavor profile, is one of the most mind boggling things to me. My dad will actually often just cook noodles for my family and ask us to make the sauce on our own. My favorite version of this dish utilizes a tablespoon of dan dan jiang sauce, a tablespoon of peanut butter, as well as a drizzle of sesame oil, and laoganma chili oil, topped with a sunny side up egg, and sliced green onions. Although I grew up eating it with thin, dry flour noodles, my family decided to experiment with using a different type of noodle not too long ago. Now, we all prefer to eat it with wide curly noodles.
Photo Courtesy of Leeann Lee
One of the many variants of the sauce combinations you can use for dan dan mian.
Photo Courtesy of Leeann Lee
My family’s take on Dan Dan Mian!
Photo Courtesy of Leeann Lee
Dan dan mian is synonymous with home for me which is why I often make it whenever I think of home. Though it’s not a complicated dish, it always required my whole family to come together for twenty to thirty minutes to chat over noodles because the noodles tend to stick if they are not incorporated with a sauce.
My dad yelling, “麵好了!快來辦!,” which translates to “The noodles are ready! Come quickly to mix it!,” will always be a memory associated with this dish. Though I used to think that this dish was always pulling us away from something whether that be a Disney Channel movie or our homework, growing up has made me realize that this dish is what brings my family together.