Ants Climbing Trees Recipes

ANTS CLIMBING A TREE (MA YI SHANG SHU)

Steps:

• Soak the dry noodles in cold water for 10 minutes. Rinse, drain and set aside. In a wok over medium heat, add the oil and minced ginger. Cook the ginger for about a minute, and add the spicy bean sauce. Let that cook for another minute, and then add the ground pork (or chicken). Stir-fry until the meat is cooked through.
• Add the chicken stock, sugar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce. Bring everything to boil. Once boiling, add the glass noodles and scallions. Quickly stir everything together for 1-2 minutes. Serve alone, or with steamed rice!
• Seriously. How easy was that?

ANTS IN TREES

Steps:

• Soak the noodles in enough hot water to cover by 1 inch for 20 minutes. Use kitchen shears to cut the noodles into 3 to 4-inch pieces and drain thoroughly in a colander for 10 minutes.
• Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, and chili paste in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the cornstarch and whisk until combined. Add the pork and mix until thoroughly integrated. Set aside for 30 minutes.
• Place a 12-inch saute pan over high heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Once the oil shimmers, add the meat mixture. Stir constantly for 2 minutes, breaking the meat up into very small pieces. Add 2/3 of the green onions and continue cooking and stirring until the meat is well browned and in very small pieces, approximately 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the broth. Cook until reduced, approximately 3 minutes.
• Slowly add handfuls of the noodles to the pan, tossing with the meat mixture until combined and the pieces of meat cling to the noodles and no liquid remains. Serve immediately with the remaining green onions.

ANTS CLIMBING A TREE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, soak the vermicelli in enough warm water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain, shake off excess water, and set aside.
• Rinse the black beans to remove any grit. In a small bowl, mash the black beans with the back of a spoon for about 20 seconds (it does not need to be a smooth paste).
• In a small bowl, stir together the soy. sauce, Sichuan chile oil, and sesame oil. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, mix 2 Tbsp. of the Chinese rice wine with the ground pork.
• Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Add the vegetable oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the pork and stir-fry, breaking up the pork with a spatula, until crispy and starting to brown but not yet dry, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, then add the scallion whites, garlic, ginger, and fermented black beans and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. rice wine and use the spatula to scrape up any bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• Add the stock, the drained noodles, and the Sichuan chili oil mixture. Simmer the noodles, tossing carefully with tongs so they get evenly cooked, until the broth is half absorbed, 3 to 4 minutes. (The vermicelli noodles will still absorb a lot of liquid post-cooking.) Transfer everything to a deep serving bowl, garnish with the scallion greens, and serve.

PORK & CRAB 'ANTS CLIMBING TREES'

Steps:

• Heat a wok over high heat and add the rapeseed oil. Stir-fry the garlic, ginger and red chilli for a few seconds, then add the pork mince and stir fry for 2-3 mins until the meat is browned at the edges. Add the rice wine or sherry, season with the dark soy sauce and chilli bean sauce, and mix well. Add the hot stock and bring to a bubble, then tip in the noodles and stir well - keep stirring until all the noodles are coated in the sauce and are a dark brown colour.
• Add the crabmeat, gently stir in, and season with toasted sesame oil. Finally, sprinkle in the spring onions, toss well and serve immediately.

ANTS CLIMBING TREES

Steps:

• Combine minced meat with soy sauce, rice wine and sesame oil. Soak the bean thread noodles in hot water for 10 minutes, then drain.
• Heat a wok over high heat, add oil and hear until very hot. Stir fry the minced meat, mashing and separating it, until it changes colour and starts to brown.
• Push the meat to the side of the wok, add the spring onion, ginger, garlic and the chilli paste and stir fry for 5 seconds, or until fragrant. Return the meat to the centre of the pan.
• To make the sauce, combine all the ingredients. Add the sauce to the meat mixture and toss lightly. Add the noodles and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook for 8 minutes, or until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.
• Sprinkle with the extra spring onion to serve.

ANTS CLIMBING A TREE (SICHUAN SPICY VERMICELLI STIR-FRY)

Steps:

• Place vermicelli in a bowl and cover with water; soak for at least 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
• Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until you can feel the heat above the pan. Put in ground pork; cook and stir until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Stir in peppercorn powder until evenly distributed. Add water and bring to a boil.
• Add drained vermicelli and mix evenly with the pork. Cook until all water has evaporated, about 5 more minutes. Taste and add more soy sauce if not salty enough for you.
• Transfer to a serving plate and top with green onions.