Dinner · 30 min · chinese

Ants Climbing a Tree

This is the kind of Chinese dinner you’ll make on repeat — cellophane noodles and ground pork, 30 minutes, big payoff.

Ingredients

• 8 oz Cellophane noodles
• 0.5 lb Ground pork
• 1 tbsp Doubanjiang
• 2 tbsp Light soy sauce
• 2 cups Chicken stock
• 4 Scallions
• 3 cloves Garlic
• 1 tbsp Fresh ginger
• 1 tsp Sesame oil

Steps

1. Soak the cellophane noodles in warm water 15 minutes until pliable, then drain. Cut them into shorter lengths with scissors so they are easy to pick up with chopsticks.
2. Brown the pork in a hot wok, breaking it into the tiniest crumbles you can — these are the ants, and small crumbles cling to the noodles.
3. Fry the doubanjiang, garlic, and ginger 30 seconds until the oil turns red, then pour in the stock and soy and bring to a boil.
4. Add the noodles and simmer 6 to 8 minutes, stirring, until they drink up nearly all the liquid. The noodles should glisten, not swim.
5. Drizzle with sesame oil, shower with scallions, and serve straight from the wok. The pork bits clinging to the translucent noodles are the whole visual joke of the name.

Build my plan — free

← All recipes