Dandan noodles (; ''dandanmian'', literally ' carrying pole noodles') are a Chinese noodle dish originating from

Sichuan cuisine Sichuan cuisine or Sichuanese cuisine, alternatively romanized as Szechwan cuisine or Szechuan cuisine (, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is a style of Chinese cuisine originating from Sichuan province and the neighboring Chongqing munic ...

. The dish consists of a spicy sauce, usually containing pickled vegetables such as '' zha cai'' (lower mustard stems) or '' ya cai'' (upper mustard stems), as well as

chili oil Chili oil is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with chili peppers. Different types of oil and hot peppers are used, and other components may also be included. It is commonly used in Chinese cuisine, Mexico, Italy, and el ...

Sichuan pepper Sichuan pepper (, also known as Sichuanese pepper, Szechuan pepper, Chinese prickly ash, Chinese pepper, Mountain pepper, and ''mala'' pepper, is a spice commonly used in Sichuan cuisine in China, Bhutan and in northeast India. It is called mej ...

, minced pork, and scallions served over noodles. The dish can either be served dry or as a noodle soup. originated in

Chengdu Chengdu; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: ; Chinese postal romanization, previously Romanization of Chinese, romanized as Chengtu. is the capital city of the Chinese province of Sichuan. With a ...

, the capital of

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. The original dish is served with no soup in a small bowl covered in a '' mala'' meat sauce and pickled vegetables, with peanuts and spring onions served on top. The

soup Soup is a primarily liquid food, generally served warm or hot – though it is sometimes served chilled – made by cooking or otherwise combining meat or vegetables with Stock (food), stock, milk, or water. According to ''The Oxford Compan ...

variant is from

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

and is more widespread across the rest of China, but it is uncommon in Sichuan itself, where the traditional style dominates. Sesame paste or

peanut butter Peanut butter is a food Paste (food), paste or Spread (food), spread made from Grinding (abrasive cutting), ground, dry roasting, dry-roasted peanuts. It commonly contains additional ingredients that modify the taste or texture, such as salt, ...

is sometimes added, and occasionally replaces the spicy sauce, usually in the American Chinese style of the dish. In this case, is considered a variation of (), sesame sauce noodles, although usually refers to a specific

Shanghainese The Shanghainese language, also known as the Shanghai dialect, or Hu language, is a variety of Wu Chinese spoken in the central districts of the city of Shanghai and its surrounding areas. It is classified as part of the Sino-Tibetan langua ...

dish.

Origin and name

refers to a type of carrying pole that was used by walking street vendors who sold the dish to passers-by. The pole was carried over the shoulder, with two baskets containing noodles and sauce attached at either end. As the noodles were affordable due to their low cost, the local people gradually came to call them noodles, referencing the street vendors. The name translates directly as 'noodles carried on a pole', but may be better translated as 'peddler's noodles'. A variety of English spellings are used. The first word may be either ''dandan'', ''dundun'' or ''tantan''. The last word ''mian'' (noodle) may also be spelled ''mein'' in

Cantonese Cantonese is the traditional prestige variety of Yue Chinese, a Sinitic language belonging to the Sino-Tibetan language family. It originated in the city of Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton) and its surrounding Pearl River Delta. While th ...

pronunciation.

Related dishes

The same sauce is frequently served over bang bang chicken, and on steamed, meat-filled dumplings in another Sichuan dish called ''

suanla chaoshou ''Suanla chaoshou'' is a dish of Sichuan cuisine that consists of a spicy sauce over boiled, meat-filled dumplings. ''Suanla'' means "hot and sour," and ''chaoshou'' is what these particular large wontons are called in the Chinese province of Si ...

''. The dish was introduced to Japan by Sichuanese chef Chen Kenmin. It is known as in Japanese, formally written , as in Chinese, but often written with an

iteration mark Iteration marks are characters or punctuation marks that represent a duplicated character or word. Chinese In Chinese, or (usually appearing as , equivalent to the modern ideograph ) or is used in casual writing to represent a doubled char ...

as , or with instead of . It is sometimes considered a form of

ramen is a Chinese noodle dish popularized in Japan. It includes served in several flavors of broth. Common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen h ...

Jinsimian

Jinsimian () or "gold thread noodle" is a variation of the dandan noodles, which was invented by chef Li Hong-kai () in 1989. Using a special kneading technique, Li was able to make a dough consistency that does not become mushy when cooking even if cut really thin. The noodles are cut so thin they can be threaded through a needle. Li was registered in ''

Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, list ...

'' for the most noodles (45) threaded through a needle, which was beaten by Li Enhai in 2010 by adding two more threads. The latter also holds the record of the thinnest noodle at 0,18 mm. As of 2024, there are other chefs as well, who cook the dandan dish using jinsimian.

Gallery

File:Dandanmian in Chengdu (20180218142856).jpg, ''Dandanmian'' from

File:Dan-Dan-Mien (Chinese spicy noodle) and coconut milk pudding (2151877162).jpg File:冷やし担々麺.jpg, Japanese ''tantanmen'' File:汁なし担々麺.jpg, Japanese soupless ''tantanmen'' File:Tokyo Twilight (11920703834).jpg, Store selling ''tantanmen'' in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

References

External links