32 Lunch preparation

Since the water in the kettle already boiled, it would waste if I do not make something to drink from it. Besides, it still needs one more hour before the meat that I cooked finished.

"Wifey, you want some tea? You must be tired after cleaning the house"

"Um. please make lemon tea for me, hubby"

"Okay, no problem"

Make lemon tea is easy and can be done in a short time. I put the boiled water in a pan and pour some black tea powder into it and simmer the water until tea mixed with water. After that, I put some lemon essence in the tea, stir it a while until mixed and then pour in the bowl using a strainer to make the tea that free from tea powder. For sweetener, I add honey and some white sugar into it. And to garnish it, I put a slice of lemon on the cup edge. After that, I pour the tea from bowl to cup and serve it to my wife.

"Here wifey, have a taste"

Ming Er accepts the cup that I give to her, she sniffs it to smell the aroma before taking a sip from the cup.

"Um, the smell is fragrant and the taste is refreshing. Sweet and sour mixed perfectly in this tea"

After commenting on the tea, Ming Er takes another sip.

"Hubby, give me another cup for mom, she will like this tea too"

"Okay"

I pour the tea into another cup and Ming Er brings that cup for her mother that still resting in her room. While waiting for Ming Er return, I try another recipe for a dish that I will sell in the food truck. I remember Ming Er words for sell fried rice or noddle, she is right, that dish is well known and accepted by many people. So I try to make one noodle dish that easy to made and not too soupy, and that dish name is:

Dan Dan Noodles, it's a dish that only takes about 35 minutes for preparation and cooking.

What needed to make Dan Dan Noodles for two people is

Ingredients

• 2 serving fresh egg noodles

• chopped scallion

• blanched vegetables

• Chicken stock or pork stock

Fried soy beans

• ½ cup soybeans

• cooking oil for frying

Pork topping

• 1 cup minced pork (with some fat)

• ½ tsp. salt

• ¼ tsp. white pepper

• ½ tbsp. light soy sauce

• 2 tbsp. cooking oil, divided

• ½ tbsp. minced ginger

• ½ tbsp. minced garlic

• 1 tsp. dark soy sauce

• 1 cup ya-cai

• ½ tbsp. chili powder

Mixed Seasonings

• 1 tbsp. sesame paste

• 1 tbsp. light soy sauce

• 1 tsp. sesame oil

• 1 tbsp.chili oil

• 1 tsp. black vinegar

• a really small pinch of salt

• 1 tsp. sugar

• 1 tbsp. minced garlic

How to cook the Dan dan noddles:

Fry soy beans

Pre-soak dried soybeans until they are double in size. Transfer out and drain with kitchen towel.

Add 3 tablespoon cooking oil in wok and add soaked soybeans to fry until you hear the "Pa Pa" sound. Transfer the soybeans out and set aside to cool down

Make the pork topping

Mix the minced pork with a small pinch of salt, white pepper and ½ tablespoon of light soy sauce.

Heat up around 1 tablespoon of cooking oil in wok, fry garlic and ginger until aromatic and then fry minced pork until crisp. Then add 1 teaspoon of dark soy sauce for better coloring, Move the pork to the out round of the wok, add another 1 tablespoon of oil in the bottom add ya-cai, separate ya-cai quickly and mix them with the pork. Add around chili powder (optional) and mix well. Transfer out and we are done with the pork topping.

Cook noodles and serve

Mix all the seasonings for serving and divide into two portions, separately in two serving bowls. Pour around ½ cup of hot pork stock.

Cook noodles in boiling water according to the instructions on the package and blanch vegetables in the last minutes when the noodles are almost ready. Transfer the noodles to the serving bowl.

Top with pork topping and then pour around ½ cup hot pork stock or chicken stock along with the edges.

Add green beans and fried soybeans. Serve immediately while hot!