Hot chilli bean paste is made when stir-fried bean paste is combined with chillies – the bean paste is made mainly of broad beans, Sichuan peppercorns and salt that has been well blended to form a smooth paste. The texture is quite thick and the flavour can be described as intense, even heavy (in as much as taste can be considered to be heavy). The paste is usually used to temper any intense fishy flavour and it’s one of the most versatile and useful seasonings for seafood ingredients in the Taiwanese kitchen.  The paste can be purchased at any Asian deli and is used here with enormous success.

Combined with crumbled minced pork that become the “ants” and noodles that are the “trees”, bean paste turns the ordinary into the sublime.

Ingredients

• 175 g minced pork
• 2 bundles mung bean noodles – they are about 100 g per bundle
• 2 spring onions, trimmed
• 1 large clove garlic, peeled, crushed and finely diced
• 1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
• 2 tbsp hot chilli bean paste
• ½ tbsp light soy sauce
• ½ tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 2  tsp sugar
• 125 ml water
• Vegetable oil for frying

Method

• Soak the mung bean noodles in water until they are soft and then cut into small pieces.
• Mix all seasoning ingredients together in a bowl and set aside – in the meantime, heat 2 tbsp oil and stir-fry the minced pork until it crumbles, drizzling with 1 tbsp of Chinese rice wine.
• Add the garlic and the chilli bean paste and cook until it is fragrant – add the mung bean noodles and check and correct the seasoning.
• Stir well to combine and cook until liquid has almost evaporated and then scatter over  a few chopped spring onions and serve.