🍜 Extras: Dan dan dumplings

all the flavours of dan dan noodles in bite-size format

I’m endlessly inspired by what I see on social media and recently, I came across Britney Wang’s dan dan dumplings, a riff on the popular Sichuan noodles that are coated in a sesame sauce and topped with minced pork. While Britney uses fried pork mince as filling, I chose to keep mine raw like a conventional dumpling filling. The powerhouses in the filling are five spice powder and taucheo (yellow bean sauce). Some people use sweet bean sauce or hoisin in their dan dan noodles, but taucheo is a staple in my fridge and has a very similar flavour profile to these. A little cornstarch and water helps to make these dumplings so juicy that they almost resemble soup dumplings once steamed (you can read about my little experiments with cornstarch and water in this newsletter on gyoza from the archives).

The sauce here is very similar to the one I shared earlier this week. I add tahini, along with the peanut butter, to bring the flavour closer to dan dan noodles. It is also thinner in consistency so that you can swipe more of the sauce with each bite and it never feels cloying.

RECIPE
Serves 4 / Makes about 24 dumplings