Another Chongqing five-star noodle soup recipe—wan za mian(豌杂面), meat sauce noodles with peas.Please do not be scared by the list of ingredients. It seems to be quite complicated but you can enjoy several bowls of yummy meat sauce noodles after one time efforts.

I believe that all of you know that Chinese loves noodles. But as a common sense, we think the yummy noodles are usually come from the Northern cuisines, for example we have famous Lanzhou lamb noodles. Recently in China, we have a new star, called “small noodles” 小面, coming from my hometown, Chongqing, one of the four Municipalities locates in Sichuan province. “Small noodles” actually refers to a group of noodles. They can be simplify flavored with seasonings or topped with different types of toppings (braised beef, pork with pickled mustard ). The most popular one among our locals is this meat sauce noodles with peas.

Hearing meat sauce noodles, you may think about the famous Peking style fried meat sauce noodles (炸酱面). The two actually are actually sister dish in my hometown. But they are quite different from texture to taste.

If you want to give this a try, you can serve this with large parties. It can be prepared ahead and quite simple to serve for a large group of people.

MEAT SAUCE

• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• 1000 g ground pork (30 % fat)
• 3 tbsp (60 grams) sweet wheat paste/tian mian jiang
• 3 tbsp. doubanjiang /chili bean paste
• 3 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tbsp. minced ginger
• 1/2 tbsp. Sichuan peppercorn powder
• 1 very small piece of Chinese cinnamon (桂皮)
• 2 fructus amomi (砂仁), optional 
• 1 star anise
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp. Chinese cooking wine/shaoxing wine
• 1 tbsp. rock sugar
• 3 cups stock or water

Make the sauce: Heat your pan firstly and then add 1 tablespoon of oil, place the ground pork in. Fry for 2-3 minutes until slightly golden brown, add cooking wine.

Move them to the outside round of the pan. Add doubanjiang, garlic and ginger in the middle and fry until aromatic. Add tianmianjiang.

Place in spices and sugar.

Add 3 cups of water or stock and simmer over slowest fire for 40 minutes to 1 hour until the sauce is well thickened naturally.

STEWED PEAS

• 1 cup  (400 grams) peas
• 1 pork large bone
• 3 slices ginger
• 1 scallion
• 5L water
• 2 tsp. salt

Pre-soak the peas until soft at the night of the previous day.

Place pork bone in a deep pot and add enough water, throw one scallion and several slices of ginger. Bring to a boiling and then continue cooking for 2-3 minutes. Pick the bone out only and discard the liquid.

Place in a large pot with 5 Lwater, add pork bones and the peas to stew over slowest fire for 2 hours until completely softened. If you need to stir the soup, be gentle and do not break the peas. Or you can use a high pressure to cook for 45 minutes.

Add salt to make a soup have a slight salty taste.

We will have our light soup base for the noodle.

Assemble the noodles

• 1 portion (100 grams) of ramen noodle
• 3/4 cup stewed chickpea broth
• 1/2 tbsp. toasted sesame paste
• 1/2 tbsp. light sauce soy sauce
• 1/2 tbsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1/4 tsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp. meat sauce
• 1/2 tbsp. Chinese chili oil

In each serving bowl, add sesame paste, light soy sauce, chili oil, sugar, garlic, scallion and vinegar. Mix well.
Bring enough water to a boiling in a pot and cook the noodles. At the last minute, add some dark green vegetables. Scoop the soup base for cooking the peas to the serving bowl. Transfer the noodles in. Top with meat sauce and stewed peas.