Weeknight Dan Dan Noodles (Just like Take-out!) Recipe

Ingredients

14 ounces ground chicken (turkey, pork, or beef work too)
6 cloves minced garlic
1 tablespoon EACH: minced ginger, low sodium soy sauce AND oil (high heat)
¼ teaspoon white pepper
3 tablespoons tahini paste
2 tablespoons EACH: sugar, rice vinegar AND fried chili in oil (see notes)
¼ cup EACH: low sodium soy sauce AND hoisin sauce
1 tablespoon ground Sichuan peppercorns
2 cups chicken stock, for noodles (divided)
24 ounces Yakisoba, or thick udon noodles cooked according to package directions
3 scallions, chopped

PREP TIME 20m	COOK TIME 12m	TOTAL TIME 32m
YIELD 4 servings

GROUND MEAT :

Combine the ingredients for the meat marinade in a bowl (except the meat and the oil) then stir in the meat until just mixed, set aside while you prep the sauce and some of the remaining ingredients.

SAUCE:

In a small bowl, stir together the tahini sauce, chili oil, sugar, rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin, and Sichuan peppercorn.
Stir and set the sauce aside for now.

COOK :

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add a tablespoon of oil to the skillet and the ground meat mixture and cook for roughly 5 minutes crumbling the meat so it browns and cooks.
Add the prepared sauce from step #2.
Stir and continue to cook until the sauce coats the ground meat and has a chance to reduce.
Then, pour in the chicken stock along the side of the pan so it just pools at the bottom of the pot without touching too much of the meat.
You basically want it to just heat through and pick up some of the flavors from the meat.
Let simmer and allow for it to cook and thicken, about 5 minutes.

SERVE :

Divide the noodles into bowls, spoon the Dan Dan meat mixture over the noodles (along with the broth.)
Top with scallions and serve.