Ants Climbing a Tree
Ants Climbing a Tree is a classic Sichuan dish, mainly made with glass noodles and minced meat. It is savory with a mild heat and fully flavored; the noodles are soft and silky, and the minced meat is tender and fragrant. The whole process only takes 20 minutes, making it very suitable for home cooking.
Ingredients and Tools
- Sweet potato glass noodles
- Minced pork (or minced beef)
- Pixian chili bean paste
- Light soy sauce
- Dark soy sauce
- Cooking oil
- Minced garlic, minced ginger
- Scallion (optional)
Measurements
- Sweet potato glass noodles 80g (dry weight)
- Minced pork 150g
- Pixian chili bean paste 15g
- Light soy sauce 10ml
- Dark soy sauce 5ml
- Cooking oil 10ml
- Minced garlic 10g
- Minced ginger 5g
- Water 300ml (for cooking the noodles)
Steps
- Soak the sweet potato glass noodles in advance until softened, soaking time 20 minutes, set aside
- Mince the garlic and ginger separately, set aside
- Heat the wok, add 10ml cooking oil, add minced garlic and minced ginger and stir-fry until fragrant
- Add minced pork and stir-fry until the meat turns pale and releases a little fat
- Add Pixian chili bean paste and stir-fry until red oil separates
- Add light soy sauce and dark soy sauce, stir-fry evenly
- Pour in 300ml water and bring to a boil
- Add the soaked and drained noodles, gently stir with chopsticks to prevent sticking
- Simmer over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes until the noodles fully absorb the liquid and become slightly dry
- According to taste, you may sprinkle in chopped scallions, turn off the heat and plate
Notes
- Do not cook the noodles too long; they break easily and the texture worsens; if the time is too long the liquid should be reduced accordingly
- Pixian chili bean paste is high in salt; you can reduce the amount of light soy sauce according to taste
- You can add 0.5g white pepper powder for seasoning, the flavor is better. If you follow this guide and find issues or improvements to the process, please file an Issue or Pull request.