Vegan Dan Dan Noodles

My favorite recipes are the ones where the least amount of effort yields the biggest returns. That’s why I love Hetty McKinnon’s work so much: she knows how to make the most out of just a few simple ingredients. And her latest cookbook, Linger, is packed with just the kind of recipes I want to make for myself, for others, for solo dinners standing over the sink, and for big dinner parties with lots of exciting platters being passed around, the kind that makes you want to linger at the table (hence the title of Hetty’s book).

The hardest part of dealing with Hetty’s book was figuring out what I wanted to make first. I settled on the Vegan Dan Dan Noodles — which is actually titled “Vegan Dan Dan Salad” (probably because it’s cold) — because I loved the simplicity of the approach. It’s all about these four ingredients.

That’s sesame paste (you can use tahini or Chinese sesame paste), chile oil/crisp (mine had garlic in it), soy sauce or tamari, and black or rice vinegar. Mix those together with a little sugar and some nondairy milk to thin out a little, and you have an unbelievably flavorful sauce that’s spicy, nutty, sharp, and smooth.

The rest of the recipe is so simple, you don’t even need a recipe. Ready? Cut up a bunch of vegetables: I went with broccoli and bok choy.

Then you bring a pot of water to a boil, season with salt, drop in some fresh ramen noodles (I bought mine at Ten Ichi Mart), drop in the vegetables, and when everything is cooked (just a few minutes), you drain and rinse with cold water.

Then it’s just a matter of tossing everything together with toasted sesame seeds and thinly sliced scallions.

The original recipe calls for fresh corn, which would be great in summer, but in the headnote Hetty gives you permission to “adapt this ssalad throughout the year by adding seasonal vegetables” so I think I did a good job. Served with some extra chili crisp on top? This dinner won raves.

What kind of raves? Well, the recipe says it makes enough for four, but we two hungry fellas finished the whole thing. If that doesn’t speak to the power of a Hetty McKinnon recipe, I don’t know what does.