#983: Meet The Manufacturer – Sun Noodle Tantanmen Spicy Sesame Flavor Ramen (Mild)

Winding down the Sun Noodle Meet The Manufacturer with the next to last review. I must say there have been some really good ones in this bunch! Here’s something I’ve not tried previously – Tantanmen. Tantanmen as described by Wikipedia:

Dandan noodles or Dandanmian (traditional Chinese: 擔擔麵, simplified Chinese: 担担面) is a classic dish originating from ChineseSichuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables (often including zha cai, 榨菜, lower enlarged mustard stems, or ya cai, 芽菜, upper mustard stems), chili oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork, and scallions served over noodles.

Sesame paste is sometimes added, and sometimes replaces the spicy sauce, usually in the Taiwanese and American Chinese-style of this dish.^[1] In this case, Dandanmian is considered as a variation of Ma Jiang Mian (麻醬麵), sesame sauce noodles. In American Chinese cuisine, Dandanmian is often sweeter, less spicy, and less soupy, and peanut butter is sometimes added.

The ingredients and directions (click image to enlarge).

The noodles. You get two of these and two of the seasoning packets.

The liquid seasoning packet.

Finished (click image to enlarge). Added kamaboko, green onion, sweet onion, hard boiled egg and Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake. The noodles rock – nice gauge and great feel – almost buttery. The broth has a strong sesame flavor. I also detect a flavor reminiscent of peanut butter and a slight spiciness. This one’s interesting! 3.75 out of 5.0 stars. UPC bar code 085315400059.

A look indie Sun Noodle – video here.

#928: Kamfen Dried-Mix Noodles Artificial Spicy Pork Flavored

Here’s one I got the other day at 99 Ranch Market. Was hoping they had a few more varieties, but they had two – two closer to the #1000th review! I’m not going to stop, just can’t wait to hit it! I think this one would win the prize for interesting use of upper and lower case characters.

Here’s a scan of the bottom (click to enlarge).

Here are the export stickers (click to enlarge).

Here are the instructions on how to make this (click to enlarge). Going to add the mustard stem at the end as they’re not dehydrated.

An included fork!

The noodles look interesting enough.

Sauce eh?

A paste.

Hey – its mustard stem!

Yeah these don’t look dehydrated – I think I’ll add them at the end.

Finished (click to enlarge). Added some sweet onions, Urashima Sesame & Salt furikake, ham and Krazy Mixed Up Salt. The noodles are kind of like slightly underdone egg noodles, but I don’t think they are at all. Plus, they’re really good – broad and thin. The flavor is quite nice – a little spicy and a nice Chinese pork flavor. The mustard stem goes with it quite well. I like this stuff – 4.0 out of 5.0 stars.UPC bar code 6920363402218 .

An old Sesame Street clip about how Chinese noodles are made.

I couldn’t find anything but thisw video about a really off pot/wok/frying pan.

#795: Master Kong Red Oil Dan Dan Noodles

Here’s another one that Bo H. sent me from China! Thanks again! So what are Dan Dan noodles? here’s what Wikipedia says:

Dandan noodles or Dandanmian (traditional Chinese: 擔擔麵, simplified Chinese: 担担面) is a classic dish originating from ChineseSichuan cuisine. It consists of a spicy sauce containing preserved vegetables (often including zha cai, 榨菜, lower enlarged mustard stems, or ya cai, 芽菜, upper mustard stems), chili oil, Sichuan pepper, minced pork, and scallions served over noodles.

Alrighty then, let’s give it a try!

I cut and pasted all the text from the lid and scanned it. Click to enlarge.

Hey – chopsticks!

Here’s the big packet of spicy paste.

That’s a lot of goopy stuff – looks spicy!

The vegetables.

Looks like a nice little bunch of veggies.

Then there’s this little pouch with little hard things in it…

I ate one and I think they get sprinkled on top at the end.

Finished. Interesting… This one was fun to try; I’m really looking forward to these Master Kong’s as they’re huge in China and these aren’t available around this neck of the woods, that’s for sure. The noodles aren’t bad, – there’s a lot of them too. The flavor is a little bit spicy and a bit greasy. The veggies are nice. The only problem here is it seems kind of bland to me. Could use a little more flavor I think. 2.75 out of 5.0 stars.UPC bar code 6903252084818 .

Here’s a Master Kong commercial

How to make DanDan noodles at home