Meat Rice, noodles, and grains [Stir-frying]

Ants climbing a tree (ma yi shang shu 蚂蚁上树)

Making a dish with a fun name like this is alawys intriguing. It also tastes great with the ground pork (the ants) and mung bean noodles (the twigs of a tree).

Last Updated on November 27, 2020 by Simon Fan

Cooking should be fun. Adding some humor to a dish name no doubt boosts the fun factor and makes you want to play with that dish again and again. At least that’s how I feel every time I make ants climbing a tree.

You’ll easily come across many humorous dish names when you open any cookbook on Chinese food. Some great examples:

Buddha jumps over the wall (fu tiao qiang 佛跳墙), the most famous soup from Fujian Province that uses a long list of rich meat and seafood ingredients. It’s so spectacular that even the vegetarian Buddha couldn’t resist the temptation.
Mapo tofu (ma po dou fu 麻婆豆腐), a wonderful tofu dish from Sichuan Province, invented by, guess what, a pock-marked (ma) old woman (po).
Dog won’t care (gou bu li 狗不理) steamed buns, from the city of Tianjin. The story goes like this: a shop owner nicknamed “little dog” became so successful with his pork bun business that he did not have time to mingle with his patrons, which led them to gripe jokingly that “little dog” only cared about selling buns. After a while, people started to call the shop “Dog won’t care.”

Although every cuisine has its fair share of funny dishes, I must say the Italians always impress me with their imagination and playfulness with food, with dish names like:

Umbellico or “belly button,” the alternative name for tortellini.
Supplì al telefono. When you eat the supplì (fried rice balls), the mozzarella inside is drawn out in a string, resembling a “telephone cord.”
Branzino all’acqua pazza. “Crazy water,” a flavorful herbed broth, is used to poach the fish.
Pollo alla diavola. The hot peppers make the chicken taste “devilish.”
– And yes, Spaghetti alla puttanesca. No explanation is needed for this seductive pasta dish.

Now, back to our ants climbing a tree. Creating that “scene” in your kitchen is actually much easier than climbing a tree: you simply stir-fry ground pork (the ants) with mung bean noodles (the twigs of a tree). I love cooking with mung bean noodles as they readily absorb the flavors from other ingredients. In this dish, they become the canvas for a flavorful mixture of pork, soy sauce, dou ban jiang (豆瓣酱, chili paste with fermented fava beans), and sugar.

You can adjust the amount of pork to your liking. Or substitute chopped mushrooms or pressed tofu to make a vegetarian version.

I like to include some seasonal vegetables to add color and texture to the dish. Zucchini seems a natural choice for this time of the year. Briefly salting sliced zucchini pieces before cooking gives them a nice crispness. Carrots and bell peppers are good options as well.

Ants climbing a tree (ma yi shang shu 蚂蚁上树)

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 oz (115 g) mung bean noodles
4 oz (115 g) zucchini (green, yellow or both), cut into thin matchsticks
Salt
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
7 oz (200 g) ground pork
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
2 teaspoons dou ban jiang (chili paste with fermented fava beans)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water
Salt and freshly ground white pepper
1 scallion, thinly sliced

Directions

  1. Soak the mung bean noodles in boiling water until softened, about 10 minutes. Do not over soak them or they’ll lose their nice texture. Drain well.
  2. Place the zucchini in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Let sit for 15 minutes, then rinse with water, drain well, and pat dry.
  3. Place a wok or skillet over medium-high heat until hot, then swirl in the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the garlic and ginger, and stir-fry for 10 seconds. Add the pork and continue to stir-fry, breaking up any clumps, for 2 minutes. Add both soy sauces, wine, dou ban jiang, and sugar. Stir-fry until all the ingredients are well mixed, 1 to 2 minutes.
  4. Add the mung bean noodles, zucchini, and water. Stir and mix, using both a spatula and a pair of chopsticks to lift the noodles frequently, until the noodles have absorbed most of the sauce, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Garnish with the scallion and serve right away.

Variation: substitute pork with chopped mushrooms or pressed tofu for a vegetarian version.

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