Re-Review: Mom's Dry Noodle Dan Dan Noodle

This one really impressed me in the last year and I wanted to have it again. The folks at Mom’s Dry Noodle were kind enough to send another pack of it for review. I thought a fresh taste immediately before finalizing the top ten would be a good plan, and so here we go!

Here’s a little about Dan Dan noodle from Wikipedia –

Dandan noodles or dandanmian (simplified Chinese: 担担面; traditional Chinese: 擔擔麵) is a noodle dish originating from Chinese Sichuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables (often including zha cai (榨菜), lower enlarged mustard stems, or ya cai (芽菜), upper mustard stems), chili oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork, and scallions served over noodles.

Sesame paste and/or peanut butter is sometimes added, and occasionally replaces the spicy sauce, usually in the Taiwanese and American Chinese style of the dish.^[1] In this case, dandanmian is considered as a variation of ma jiang mian (麻醬麵), sesame sauce noodles. In American Chinese cuisine, dandanmian is often sweeter, less spicy, and less soupy than its Sichuan counterpart.

Alright – let’s dig in!

Mom’s Dry Noodle Dan Dan Noodle – Taiwan

Detail of the side panels (click to enlarge). Looks to be meat free but check for yourself. To prepare, ad noodle block to a pot of boiling water and cook for 6~7 minutes. Drain. Add in all sachets. Finally, stir well and enjoy!

The pack contains four sealed packages. Here’s the noodle block from one of them.

A dry sachet.

A fascinating and aromatic mixture – Sichuan peppercorn shell, garlic and seasoning.

A liquid base sachet.

The sesame base.

Another liquid base sachet.

Bright orange chilli oil!

A final sachet.

Soy sauce.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added scallion, chashu pork, fried onion, sesame seeds, and an egg. The noodles are so good – chewy but with a giving softness at the same time. The flavor is multilayered – spicy, sesame, soy and then the nice hits of garlic and Sichuan peppercorn. Complex, yet simple – and extremely satisfying. 5.0 out of 5.0 stars. EAN bar code 4717011150322.