Dan dan noodle jaffle

I’ve cottoned on that the classic Sichuan street food, dan dan mian, - spicy, salty, sweet and mouth-puckery - makes for the ultimate jaffle filling.

Why you shouldn't skip the bread. Credit: Alan Benson

• makes

  4

• prep

  20 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

This is my riff on tinned spaghetti jaffles. Growing up in a Chinese household meant that I didn’t learn to use a knife and fork until I was in my teens, and Tip Top white bread and SPC spaghetti were exotic ingredients in our kitchen. 

I’ve swapped out the sesame paste that is traditionally used in the sauce for peanut butter, which is spread in the jaffle to make an oozy layer. These noodles are not usually very saucy, which means no soggy fall-apart jaffles, the inevitable fate of many a spaghetti toastie. A jaffle maker is key for this recipe - a sandwich press or pan-frying just won’t do. 

Ingredients

• 150 g dried thin wheat noodles
• 8 slices square white bread (see Note)
• softened butter, for spreading
• peanut butter, for spreading
• 2 tsp peanut oil
• ½ tsp Sichuan peppercorns
• 100 g minced fatty pork
• 1 lup cheong (Chinese sausage), diced into 5 mm cubes
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• ⅓ cup finely diced Sichuan ya cai (preserved vegetable, see Note)
• ½ tsp raw sugar
• 60 ml (¼ cup) light soy sauce
• 1-2 tbsp chilli oil
• 2 tbsp Chinkiang (Chinese black) vinegar
• ½ tsp sesame oil
• 2 spring onions, very thinly sliced
• 1 tbsp toasted black and white sesame seeds

Instructions

Cook the noodles in a saucepan of boiling water until al dente. Reserve 125 ml (½ cup) cooking water, drain well and set aside and keep warm.

Preheat your jaffle iron. Generously butter the slices of bread on one side. Arrange half of the slices, buttered-side down, on a chopping board, and spread with peanut butter. Set aside, ready for filling.

Crisp the mince. Heat the oil in a large wok or large frying pan over high heat. Add the peppercorns and cook until fragrant but not coloured (about 15 seconds). Add the pork, breaking up the clumps with a spoon, and stir-fry until the moisture has leached out and evaporated and the pork is beginning to crisp up (about 3 minutes). Add the lup cheong and stir-fry until beginning to colour (about 1 minute).

Make the sauce. Add the garlic and stir-fry until aromatic but not coloured (about 30 seconds). Add the ya cai and sugar and stir-fry for about 1 minute for the ya cai to soften and sugar to dissolve. Add the soy sauce, chilli oil, vinegar, sesame oil and reserved cooking water and cook for about 1 minute for the flavours to meld and sauce thickens slightly.

Fill the jaffles. Add the noodles and toss to coat evenly. Neatly divide the noodles (a good trick is to twirl the noodles onto a pair of chopsticks or tongs) among half of the bread slices and sandwich with the remaining bread, making sure to tuck in any loose strands. Cook the sandwiches in the jaffle iron until nicely golden.

Garnish the jaffles. Remove the jaffles and separate into triangles. Combine the spring onion and sesame seeds on a plate. Lightly spread one edge of each triangle with peanut butter, then dip the edge in the spring onion mixture, pressing down to coat.

Enjoy with jasmine tea, with leftover spring onion mixture served on the side.

Notes

• I like to use bakery-made white bread as the slices are more uniformly square.

• You’ll find the noodles, Sichuan peppercorns, lup cheong, ya cai, chilli oil and vinegar in the Chinese aisle of Asian supermarkets. If you can’t find ya cai, substitute salted mustard green (Tianjin preserved vegetable) or pickled mustard green.

Photography by Alan Benson. Styling by Sarah O'Brien. Food preparation by Kerrie Ray. Creative concept by Farah Celjo and Belinda So.

Feeling nostalgic? We want you! For the month of November, SBS Food is asking food lovers far and wide to get creative by putting a multicultural twist or your creative spin on an Australian classic... Welcome to #BringBackTheClassics - enter now!

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

This is my riff on tinned spaghetti jaffles. Growing up in a Chinese household meant that I didn’t learn to use a knife and fork until I was in my teens, and Tip Top white bread and SPC spaghetti were exotic ingredients in our kitchen. 

I’ve swapped out the sesame paste that is traditionally used in the sauce for peanut butter, which is spread in the jaffle to make an oozy layer. These noodles are not usually very saucy, which means no soggy fall-apart jaffles, the inevitable fate of many a spaghetti toastie. A jaffle maker is key for this recipe - a sandwich press or pan-frying just won’t do.