One of Szechuan province’s most famous exports and typically face-numbingly spicy. Our peanut butter version certainly has a kick, but it won’t set your mouth on fire (you can always add more chilli oil!). If you can’t find Szechuan peppercorns, use 1/2tsp dried chilli flakes. You won’t get the same flavour profile, but the meal will still be delicious.
-1tbsp Chinese chilli oil, we used Lee Kum Kee Chiu Chow, plus optional extra to serve
200ml
chicken stock
For the pork
1Tbsp.
vegetable oil
500g
pork mince
3
garlic cloves, crushed
5
cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and finely grate
4
spring onions, finely sliced
For the noodles
250g
medium egg noodles
200g
choi sum or pak choi, roughly chopped
Directions
Step 1For the sauce, finely grind the Szechuan peppercorns using a pestle and mortar. Tip into a small bowl and mix in the peanut butter, soy sauce, sugar and Chinese 5 spice. Next mix in the chilli oil and stock. Set aside.
Step 2For the pork, heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the pork and fry for 10min, breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon, or until cooked through and beginning to caramelise. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1min, until aromatic.
Step 3Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil and cook the noodles according to pack instructions, adding the choi sum for the final 4min of cooking. Drain.
Step 4Add the sauce to the pork pan and bring to the boil. Simmer for a couple of min.
Step 5Divide the noodles and choi sum between 4 bowls. Top with the pork mixture and sauce. Garnish with spring onions and serve with extra chilli oil, if you like.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
