Vegan Dan Dan Noodles With Eggplant

Quite delicious. The technique with the eggplant seemed unlikely to me but I trust Hetty and it worked beautifully, producing tender, flavorful eggplant. (I might go a liiiiitle bit lighter on the salt.) I added some finely chopped tofu to the eggplant, which was nice. I think shiitake mushrooms would also be great, maybe both. Served with some blanched broccoli mixed in as well. Will make again.

Very delicious recipe. I didn’t have enough eggplant from our garden so I supplemented with mushrooms and tofu I had on hand which worked well. The only addition I would make is a little fresh lime juice to the sauce to brighten it up a bit. This recipe is a winner!

The eggplant was delicious and I will use this method in other recipes. This recipe did not quite work for me. The ratio of noodles to eggplant/sauce was too much. The sauce, while delicious, turned an unappetizing shade of brown when the sesame paste was added - not the rich brown that you see in the photo. I had to add a decent amount of chili crisp at the end as the flavors were muted when mixed up.

Don't salt the noodle water, and consider cutting back on the salt that's called for, or even cutting it out entirely, since there's also a good amount of soy sauce...otherwise it will come out much too salty, even for a serious salt-aholic like myself! Do feel free to mix the whole thing together in the wok (off the heat) along with a bunch of whole basil leaves before serving - and only having to pass the chili crisp, scallion greens and peanuts at the table.

Made a couple of substitutions based on what I had and this was still delicious! I subbed two tbsp of gochujang for the chili oil and sugar in the sauce and used peanut butter instead of tahini. I also used homemade fresh noodles. The black vinegar and Sichuan peppercorn (even though the recipes says optional) seemed especially key in mimicking the dan dan noodle flavor I'm used to getting at restaurants so I definitely wouldn't use substitutions for those.

Good but not great. Followed the recipe as written and used 2 tbs doubanjiang plus 1 tbs of chili oil. Ended up blending sauce in mini food processor to smooth out tahini. Due to doubanjiang and black vinegar, color of sauce matched photo. Eggplant preparation was easy and tasty. Would say that the saltiness was a little too much for me so if I make again, I will reduce. Loved the addition of the ground Szechuan peppercorns, peanuts, cilantro and scallions on top.

I added mushrooms (5 ox shittake) and a cube of tofu chopped per recommendations. Doubled the sauce for 3 adults and 2 kids. Used sherry vinegar instead. Ridiculously delicious. This is why I keep the subscription. Meals like this.

I literally made JUST the sauce for drizzling on top of some tofu and veggies and it was fire. Like i’m probably gonna memorize it and put it on everything..

I used peanut butter because the Chinese sesame paste is actually very, very different than tahini. I used the food processor attachment on my immersion blender for the sauce and I highly recommend that. I doubled the ginger and added an additional clove of garlic as well as a dash of rice vinegar. I used less water than it called for - just added a few TBSP until I liked it. I also added the tofu with the method suggested by another reader. And I sliced cucumbers to add to the toppings.

Fantastic recipe, with the following modifications: -I substituted the tahini paste with chunky peanut butter -added gochujang instead of chile oil -added some thai basil to the eggplant at the end of the cooking process. The sweetness of the basil was a nice balance to the saltiness of the eggplant. Will definitely make it again

I thought the sauce was delicious, but the dish overall was too salty for me. I would omit adding the 1 tsp of salt at the beginning of cooking the eggplant and 1/2 tsp at the end. The soy sauce is salty as it is and then I'd add salt by taste if needed from there.

My package of noodles was 8 ounces and that seemed to be perfect ratio for sauce and eggplant. Overall, a great recipe and super delicious dish.

I made this but doubled the sauce. I found that was not necessary because it is such a concentrated sauce. It is delicious. I also had exactly the amount of tahini left in the jar for the recipe. I put all the ingredients in the jar and used an immersion blender to keep the kitchen clean. It worked beautifully. I did add some honey and only had brown sugar on hand. The flavor profile was still perfect. I recommend this recipe.

I used dried hand-pulled noodles from the Asian grocery store and Japanese eggplants. Great recipe. Next time, I'll halve the vinegar, since this was too sour for me—and also fry some tofu for protein. Drizzled the noodles with Momofuku's truffle chili crisp that I bought from the gourmet grocer—yum! Paired these noodles with the recipe for Chinese Smashed Cucumbers with Sesame and Garlic from the NYT Cooking site. Perfect dinner.

I used 2Tbsp chili oil, black vinegar, and peanut butter instead of tahini, and it was DELICIOUS. However, I think next time I’ll just use 1Tbsp chili oil. With 2Tbsp, it was right at my threshold for spicy, so I couldn’t add any chili crisp for garnish, which I’d like to try next time.