Ants Climbing A Tree Recipes

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.

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.

ANTS CLIMBING A TREE

Steps:

• Mix together all the sauce ingredients.
• In a pre-heated wok over high heat, add the peanut oil. When the oil just begins to smoke, add the ginger, green onion, chiles, pork, carrot, and the mushroom, and stir-fry until the pork is well-browned.
• Add the bean sauce and stir-fry for about 15 seconds or until combined thoroughly with the other ingredients.
• Add the bean threads and sauce. Cook over medium high heat until the sauce is thickened and the bean threads just begin to stick to the wok.

ANTS CLIMBING A TREE ( MA-YI SHANG SHU )

Steps:

• Soften the noodles briefly in warm water. When they are soft, mostly clear and pliable, drain and cut both ends to shorten them to manageable lengths.Be careful not to over soak. Set aside.
• To prepare the red peppers: Top and seed the red peppers and chop finely. If using dried red peppers, soak in warm water until softened, then seed and chop. Set aside.
• To prepare the green pepper: Top, seed and cut into shreds. Fry shortly in 1 Tbsp cooking oil on high heat with a pinch of salt. Set aside.
• To prepare mushrooms: Soak dried mushrooms in warm water until softened. Cut away the tough stems and cut the mushrooms into 1/2 inch pieces. Set aside.
• Chop the ginger and green onions. Put them both on a small plate with the hot bean sauce and red peppers. Set aside.
• In a bowl, mix the rice wine, soy sauce, salt, mushrooms and chicken stock. Set aside.
• Heat the oil in a wok or large pan until hot. Add the pork and toss until grey, breaking up the pork into very tiny bits as you do.
• Add the ginger, onions, peppers and bean sauce and stir it well.
• When the pork and ginger have absorbed the red color from the bean sauce and become strongly aromatic, add the bowl containing the wine, soy sauce, salt and stock.
• Reduce heat and stir once.
• Add noodles.
• Simmer, stirring occasionally until the liquid is absorbed.
• Stir in green peppers with sesame oil.
• Serve immediately and enjoy!