Korean fusion dan dan noodles

The Goods*:

1/4 lb ground pork

1 handful Asian rice noodles

1 cup kimchi**

2 tbsp peanut oil

1 tbsp chili oil (as seen here, or you know, buy some)

1 tsp toasted, ground Sichuan pepper***

3 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp Shaoxing rice wine****

Prepare the rice noodles according to the package directions. Drain and set aside.

Place 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil in a wok on high heat. When the oil is hot, add the kimchi. Stir fry for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and place the kimchi in a large bowl. Add the other tablespoon of oil to the wok and place back on high heat. Add the ground pork. Once the pork starts to separate and has started to brown, add the wine and 1 tsp of the soy sauce. Once the pork is cooked, though not dried out, about 3-4 minutes, remove from the heat and add to the kimchi. Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss with the noodles. Serve immediately.

*I recently finished reading Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, a food/travel memoir by Fuchsia Dunlop, which I'd recommend if you're into food and/or travel writing, though I'd have to say her reserved British style is a marked contrast from the booze-fueled mayhem of Bourdain. My curiosity was such that I had to race out and purchase Land of Plenty, her Sichuanese cookbook. Needless to say, I'll be trying my hand at some of these recipes in the near future.

**The recipe calls for Ya Cai pickled vegetables and I have cleverly inserted kimchi. I purchased what I THINK are Ya Cai pickled vegetables from the Super 88, but I have no way of fully knowing, as every character on the jar is Chinese. Anyway, this allows me to use some of that glass vat of kimchi chilling in the refrigerator.

***Sichuan peppercorns are a really interesting ingredient. They have a lemony, coriander-like taste and leave the tongue almost completely numb in the aftertaste. I have no idea how available they are; I found mine at Christina's in Cambridge. Dunlop recommends toasting a batch (6 tablespoons at a time) in a dry wok for about 5 minutes and then grinding the peppercorns in a mortar. I would also recommend bumping this down to 1/2 a teaspoon, that is until one is fully adapted to the taste (read: face numbing).

****Here's another fun Chinese ingredient. Imagine sake if soy sauce had a slightly boozier love child.