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Ants Climbing a Tree

This delicious dish comes from the Szechuan region in China. The story goes that a niece visited her auntie, who didn’t have very good vision and the niece cooked her this dish. Upon observation, the aunt thought she was seeing ants climbing on branches as the ground meat looked like ants, the noodles looked like branches and the green onion looked like leaves. Somehow the name stuck.
Most Chinese dishes are served with rice but you can also eat this on its own. For those who are concerned about gluten, glass noodles are made with mung bean starch and are naturally gluten free. They are also referred to as mung bean or bean thread noodles.
Doubanjiang is a Chinese broad bean paste that is usually spicy and I was only able to find a spicy version of doubanjiang paste available online. However, locally, I was able to find a non-spicy version because I prefer to add the chili oil so that I can control the level of spiciness. If you are using the spicy version, omit the chili oil in this recipe unless you want to add extra heat.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian, Chinese
Keyword: doubanjiang, glass noodles, ground pork
Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 bundles glass noodles (approximately 75 grams or 2.7 ounces)
  • 1 tablespoon avocado or neutral cooking oil
  • 3 stalks green onion chopped, white and dark green parts separated
  • 1 tablespoon ginger grated
  • 2 clove garlic minced
  • 1 tablespoon doubanjiang paste
  • 1 teaspoon chili oil (optional)
  • ½ pound ground pork
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon dark soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 cup chicken stock

Instructions

  • Place glass noodles in a medium bowl and cover with room temperature water. Let them soak for about 10 minutes while you prepare the rest of your ingredients. Drain and set aside.
  • Heat a wok or large frying pan on medium heat, add cooking oil. Add ginger, garlic, and white parts of the green onion. Stir fry for about a minute or until fragrant.
  • Add doubanjiang paste and chili oil. Stir fry for another minute.
  • Add ground pork. Let the meat sear on one side before moving it around. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, until the pork is no longer pink and cooked through.
  • Add soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sugar and chicken stock. Let it simmer for about 2 minutes.
  • Drain the glass noodles and add to the sauce. Gently toss the noodles until all the sauce is absorbed.
  • Transfer noodles to a serving bowl. Garnish with remaining green onions. Serve with rice.