At the beginning of the year, I made a list of new foods I
wanted to try. According to that list, this was the week I was
going to try
”
Ants on a Tree,
”
or Spicy Pork with Bean Thread Noodles. Familiar as I am with
Italian-style pasta, it was time to branch out and explore the
noodles of other parts of the world.
At the beginning of the year, I made a list of new foods I wanted to try. According to that list, this was the week I was going to try “Ants on a Tree,” or Spicy Pork with Bean Thread Noodles. Familiar as I am with Italian-style pasta, it was time to branch out and explore the noodles of other parts of the world.
Perhaps you have missed the heated (well, not very) debate among food historians as to the origin of pasta or noodles. The contention has been whether Italy, China or the Arab world was the first to boil strands of a starch mixed with water..
Just last October, some solid evidence for noodles originating in China was discovered at an archeological site called Lajia, in northwest China’s Qinghai province. The settlement at Lajia existed about 4,000 years ago, until some cataclysmic event, perhaps an earthquake and flood, destroyed it. Archeologists found noodles that turned out to be made mainly from millet in an overturned bowl. These are the oldest noodle-like remains found to date.
The first written reference to noodles is from the East Han Dynasty around 25-220 B.C. While Ancient Rome did use small bits of dough, they were fried, rather than boiled as pasta is today.
I still wonder what the first person to make noodles was thinking. Did he or she accidentally drop some bread dough in the soup? Or did that person allow the porridge to dry for traveling and then reconstitute it in water?
In any case, millenia later there are few cultures that don’t enjoy some form of noodle or pasta, even if they have imported it from somewhere else.
Italian pasta is usually made from wheat flour, and the types are more distinct in shape than anything else, including long, round pasta like spaghetti and vermicelli, long flat pasta like fettucine and linguine, and innumerable shapes of short pasta like “little ears,” (orrecchiette), “twins,” (gemelli), and the familiar elbow macaroni.
In contrast, I found that Chinese noodles vary both in shape and in main ingredient. The shapes are mainly varieties of the long, stringy kind, differing mainly in thickness and whether they are flat or round, but the main ingredient may be rice flour, mung bean starch, or wheat and eggs, similar to European pasta.
The Bean Thread noodles in “Ants on a Tree” are made with mung bean and potato starch. They are shiny white in the package and turn translucent and rather sticky when cooked. They are called “fun size” in Cantonese and “lu dou mian” in Pinyin.
This recipe called for ground pork, which I could not find, so I bought boneless pork chops and minced them myself. The result was probably somewhat drier than ground pork would have been.
I also found that the appearance did not really come close to “Ants on a Tree” because after cooking, the pork bits and noodles were pretty much the same color. To really achieve the contrast indicated in the name, the pork would need to be thoroughly browned rather than just cooked done.
The good news is that even though the recipe didn’t quite live up to its whimsical name, it was gobbled happily by two adults and two teenagers, and it only took about 40 minutes to prepare, even allowing for chopping up and marinating the meat.
Spicy Pork with Bean Thread Noodles
from the Gourmet Cookbook, edited by Ruth Reichl
Serves 4 as a main course
3/4 pound ground pork
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons rice vinegar (not seasoned)
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons Asian sesame oil
6 1/2 ounce bean thread (cellophane) noodles
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions
2 teaspoons Asian chili paste or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/2 cups chicken stock or store-bought broth
3 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or sake (I left this out)
1 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Step 1: Gently combine pork with 2 teaspoons vinegar, 2 teaspoons soy sauce and 1 teaspoon sesame oil in a bowl. Marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes.
Step 2: Meanwhile, soak noodles in warm water to cover for 15 minutes. Drain noodles and, using scissors, cut into 3- to 4-inch lengths.
Step 3: Heat vegetable oil in a wok or large heavy skillet over moderately high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add garlic, ginger and 1/4 cup scallions, and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
Step 4: Add pork and chili paste or red pepper and stir-fry, breaking up lumps, until meat is no longer pink. Add noodles, stock, rice wine if using, sugar and remaining 1 tablespoon each soy sauce and vinegar. Bring to a simmer and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until noodles have absorbed liquid, 3-5 minutes.
Step 5: Transfer to a platter, drizzle with remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Sprinkle with cilantro and remaining 1/4 cup scallions.
I served a combination of fresh pineapple and clementine (mandarin orange) sections with this. Another refreshing accompaniment would be the following:
Mango and Hearts of Palm Salad with Lime Vinaigrette
from Everyday Food magazine
Serves 4
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
4 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 large mango, peeled, pitted and cut into 1/2 inch wedges
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 can (14.5 ounces) hearts of palm, drained, halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch pieces
salt and pepper
1 head Boston lettuce (about 8 ounces), washed and dried
Step 1: In a small bowl, whisk lime juice and Dijon. Set vinaigrette aside.
Step 2: In a medium bowl, toss mango, onion, hearts of palm and half the vinaigrette; season with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Evenly divide lettuce among four plates; top with mango mixture. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with remaining vinaigrette.
