Dan Dan Style Noodles

As the temperatures plummet it is natural to crave warming foods. To kick up the heat on your internal thermostat, these spicy noodle dishes will have you warmed up in no time. 

The heat from peppers actually comes from the amount of capsaicin that is in the white pith/inner wall of the pepper. The seeds themselves do not contain heat but they can be covered with capsaicin so that is why we want to remove the seeds as well as the pith if you are using fresh peppers. 

What makes us sense the heat in the capsaicin? The capsaicin binds to pain receptors on the tongue which sends a signal to your brain telling it that you are experiencing a burning sensation. The brain sends a signal that says, pain, pain, pain. And now your mouth feels like it is on fire. 

Just like fire trucks come to put out actual fires, thankfully we can call upon milk to put out the fire in our mouth. The casein in dairy binds with capsaicin and helps reduce the burn.  

These Dan Dan Style Noodles look to chili oil for its intense (but controllable) heat. If you don’t appreciate as much heat then you can remove or reduce the amount of chili oil used. This recipe seems complicated with all the steps but it is easy, plus you can make some parts ahead of time.