Ants Climbing A Tree Stir Fry by Helen Chen

This dish make a “light main dish” for two or a good side dish for three to four people.

I know. Not the “yummiest” sounding name for a dish but I did not let that stop me! 

The recipe comes from the cookbook Helen’s Asian Kitchen: Easy Asian Noodles. I ordered it with Helen’s Asian Kitchen: Easy Chinese Stir-Fries because I was tired of crappy local Chinese takeout here. I wanted to make my own Asian food and I wanted it to be as low impact as possible. Excellent cookbook investments. I am loving everything so far. 

The Recipe

You will need: 1/2 lb ground pork, 4 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tsp Chinese cooking wine (or sherry), 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp cornstarch, 4 oz bean thread (thin rice noodles), 4 medium dried black mushrooms, 2 tbsp canola oil…

… 3 slices unpeeled fresh ginger, 3 green onions split in half and cut into 1″ pieces, 1 tsp-2 tbsp chili-garlic sauce (to taste), 1 tsp sesame oil and 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro (optional). 

In a medium mixing bowl combine pork with soy sauce, cooking wine, sugar and cornstarch. 

Now the recipe just called for “bean thread” which according to this cookbook is also referred to as cellophone and glass noodles. I love that about this book, it has a whole glossary of Asian noodles! I used rice vermicelli noodles because they were what I had.

Soak the noodles in hot (not boiling) water until soft. Drain and cut into shorter lengths with scissors.

Soak mushrooms (I used shiitake) in hot water for 15 minutes to soften. 

Drain mushrooms reserving 2 tbsp of the liquid. Squeeze mushrooms dry and cut off stems with scissors and discard. Chop the caps.

Heat canola oil over high heat until hot but not smoking. Add the ginger and stir for a few seconds and then add the pork mixture, stirring constantly until pork breaks up, about 2 minutes. 

Add mushrooms and green onions, stirring constantly for another minute until pork is cooked through. 

Add the noodles, chili-garlic sauce and reserved liquid from mushrooms. 

Cook and stir until noodles become transparent and pork is well incorporated into noodles, around 2 minutes. Do not overcook!

Drizzle with sesame oil and give the noodles a few turns with the spatula. Discard ginger, sprinkle with cilantro and serve immediately. 

Foodie Results

Subtle and delicious! I only used around 1 tsp of the chili-garlic sauce so next time I will use more but this is a lovely dish. It really is easy and fast to make and fills you up. I cut the noodles too short so next time I will not be so violent with the scissors but these are all minor issues.

Tasty, easy, fast and pretty cheap. My first recipe test from Helen’s Asian Kitchen: Easy Asian Noodles was a winner. Next time I might make it with ground chicken so Reg can enjoy it too. I give this recipe four out of five wooden spoons.

Note: This is not the best leftover dish so when you make it, eat it all up!

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