"Ants Climbing a Tree" is an enticing Szechuan noodle dish that tantalizes the taste buds with its unique presentation and robust flavors. This iconic dish, also known as "Ants on a Tree" or "Yimi Yantree," has captured the hearts of food enthusiasts worldwide. It features delicate glass noodles coated in a savory and spicy sauce, topped with minced pork or beef, and adorned with fragrant cilantro. Prepare to embark on a culinary journey as we explore the best recipe to create this enticing dish at home.
Here are our top 6 tried and tested recipes!
ANTS CLIMBING A TREE (MA YI SHANG SHU)
Ants Climbing a Tree (ma yi shang shu - 蚂蚁上树) is a classic Sichuan dish of glass noodles in a delicious sauce with ground pork. Our recipe is beyond easy.
Provided by Judy
Categories Noodles and Pasta
Time 20m
Number Of Ingredients 10
Steps:
- Soak the dry noodles in cold water for 10 minutes. Rinse, drain and set aside. In a wok over medium heat, add the oil and minced ginger. Cook the ginger for about a minute, and add the spicy bean sauce. Let that cook for another minute, and then add the ground pork (or chicken). Stir-fry until the meat is cooked through.
- Add the chicken stock, sugar, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce. Bring everything to boil. Once boiling, add the glass noodles and scallions. Quickly stir everything together for 1-2 minutes. Serve alone, or with steamed rice!
- Seriously. How easy was that?
Nutrition Facts : Calories 479 kcal, Carbohydrate 58 g, Protein 16 g, Fat 21 g, SaturatedFat 5 g, Cholesterol 41 mg, Sodium 806 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sugar 3 g, ServingSize 1 serving
ANTS IN TREES
Provided by Alton Brown
Time 50m
Yield 4 servings
Number Of Ingredients 9
Steps:
- Soak the noodles in enough hot water to cover by 1 inch for 20 minutes. Use kitchen shears to cut the noodles into 3 to 4-inch pieces and drain thoroughly in a colander for 10 minutes.
- Combine the soy sauce, rice wine, and chili paste in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the cornstarch and whisk until combined. Add the pork and mix until thoroughly integrated. Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Place a 12-inch saute pan over high heat for 1 minute. Add the oil and swirl to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Once the oil shimmers, add the meat mixture. Stir constantly for 2 minutes, breaking the meat up into very small pieces. Add 2/3 of the green onions and continue cooking and stirring until the meat is well browned and in very small pieces, approximately 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the broth. Cook until reduced, approximately 3 minutes.
- Slowly add handfuls of the noodles to the pan, tossing with the meat mixture until combined and the pieces of meat cling to the noodles and no liquid remains. Serve immediately with the remaining green onions.
MAYI SHANG SHU (ANTS CLIMB A TREE)
An authenic Szechwan recipe. Clearly not Chinese haute cuisine, this recipe is reminiscent of earthier peasant food. Will serve four as a main dish or many more on a buffet as a side dish. One of the best things about this dish is the ease to eat with chopsticks. A real learners food! There is a lot of set up and preparation work, but the dish itself cooks up very quickly. You will save a lot of time if you use pre-minced garlic and ginger.
Provided by Spankie
Categories Asian
Time 45m
Yield 4 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 14
Steps:
- Preparation:.
- Put the cellophane noodles in a large bowl and cover with boiling water. Stir and set aside to soak for at least 20 minutes.
- Put the ground pork in a bowl and add the 2 tablespoons soy sauce and sesame oil.
- Clean the scallions, then slice them, both the green and white, diagonally as fine as you can. Add half of the scallions to the ground pork mixture and mix well. Set aside the remainder of the scallions.
- Peel the garlic cloves and chop them into tiny pieces, about the size of a match head.
- Peel the ginger, then mince it very fine, until it reaches the consistency of coarse bread crumbs.
- When the cellophane noodles have become nice and soft, rinse them several times under cold water; drain well and set aside.
- Time to Cook!
- Heat your wok or pan over a high flame for 15 seconds, then pour in the oil. It will be hot enough to cook with when the first tiny bubbles forms and a few small wisps of smoke appear.
- When the oil is ready, toss in the chopped ginger and garlic, and the hot pepper paste. Stir-fry these ingredients together for 30 seconds, using your cooking shovel to keep things moving around in the hot oil.
- Add the meat and continue to stir-fry for about 1 minute, taking particular care to break up any large chunks of meat. Note: pork will not be completed cooked at this point.
- Pour in the soy sauce and stir-fry for 30 seconds.
- Add the cellophane noodles and cook for about 1 minutes, turning them over occasionally and making several cuts with the cooking shovel or wooden spoon.
- Add the water and the rest of the scallions. Taste for salt and season as needed to give a rich, clear taste to the noodles. Cover pan and let simmer over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes.
- Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper just before serving.
ANTS CLIMBING A TREE (SICHUAN SPICY VERMICELLI STIR-FRY)
"Ants on a tree" is one of most well known Sichuan dishes. It is a combination of ground pork and mung bean vermicelli. In addition to that, we use Sichuan peppercorn powder, topped with fresh green onion, it is a very good main course for your dining table.
Provided by Tao,RN
Categories World Cuisine Recipes Asian Chinese
Time 35m
Yield 4
Number Of Ingredients 7
Steps:
- Place vermicelli in a bowl and cover with water; soak for at least 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
- Heat vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until you can feel the heat above the pan. Put in ground pork; cook and stir until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in 2 tablespoons soy sauce. Stir in peppercorn powder until evenly distributed. Add water and bring to a boil.
- Add drained vermicelli and mix evenly with the pork. Cook until all water has evaporated, about 5 more minutes. Taste and add more soy sauce if not salty enough for you.
- Transfer to a serving plate and top with green onions.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 454.3 calories, Carbohydrate 60.8 g, Cholesterol 36.7 mg, Fat 18.4 g, Fiber 0.5 g, Protein 10.3 g, SaturatedFat 4.6 g, Sodium 488 mg, Sugar 0.2 g
ANTS CLIMBING A TREE
There are no insects in this Sichuan noodle dish; rather, the name Ants Climbing a Tree refers to the way the bits of pork cling to the noodles.
Provided by Diana Kuan
Yield Serves 4
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- In a large bowl, soak the vermicelli in enough warm water to cover for 10 minutes. Drain, shake off excess water, and set aside.
- Rinse the black beans to remove any grit. In a small bowl, mash the black beans with the back of a spoon for about 20 seconds (it does not need to be a smooth paste).
- In a small bowl, stir together the soy. sauce, Sichuan chile oil, and sesame oil. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, mix 2 Tbsp. of the Chinese rice wine with the ground pork.
- Heat a wok or large skillet over high heat until a bead of water sizzles and evaporates on contact. Add the vegetable oil and swirl to coat the bottom. Add the pork and stir-fry, breaking up the pork with a spatula, until crispy and starting to brown but not yet dry, about 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium, then add the scallion whites, garlic, ginger, and fermented black beans and stir-fry for another 30 seconds. Add the remaining 2 Tbsp. rice wine and use the spatula to scrape up any bits that might be stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Add the stock, the drained noodles, and the Sichuan chili oil mixture. Simmer the noodles, tossing carefully with tongs so they get evenly cooked, until the broth is half absorbed, 3 to 4 minutes. (The vermicelli noodles will still absorb a lot of liquid post-cooking.) Transfer everything to a deep serving bowl, garnish with the scallion greens, and serve.
ANTS CLIMBING A TREE
This recipe is from the January/February 1991 issue of Chile Pepper magazine. The intro to the recipe says, "In this dish, the bits of pork are supposed to resemble ants. It is made with transparent bean threads. Make sure you don't use rice noodles, which have a similar appearance." Serves 2 by itself or more with other dishes. Heat scale: medium. My ex-husband made this dish regularly, as it was one of his favorites; at the time, my tastes hadn't quite developed enough to appreciate it fully. Now I have come to really treasure this dish.
Provided by mersaydees
Categories Pork
Time 35m
Yield 2 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Mix together all the sauce ingredients.
- In a pre-heated wok over high heat, add the peanut oil. When the oil just begins to smoke, add the ginger, green onion, chiles, pork, carrot, and the mushroom, and stir-fry until the pork is well-browned.
- Add the bean sauce and stir-fry for about 15 seconds or until combined thoroughly with the other ingredients.
- Add the bean threads and sauce. Cook over medium high heat until the sauce is thickened and the bean threads just begin to stick to the wok.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 258.2, Fat 16.3, SaturatedFat 3.8, Cholesterol 47.6, Sodium 921.2, Carbohydrate 6.5, Fiber 1.7, Sugar 2.5, Protein 19.7
Tips:
- Use fresh ingredients: The fresher the ingredients the better the dish will be. This means using fresh noodles, vegetables, and meat. Buy the best ingredients you can find, and make sure they are ripe and in season.
- Don't overcook the noodles: The noodles should be cooked al dente, or slightly firm to the bite. This will help them hold their shape and texture in the dish.
- Use a good quality soy sauce: Soy sauce is a key ingredient in this dish, so it's important to use a good quality one. Look for a soy sauce that is dark and thick, with a rich flavor.
- Add the ingredients in the correct order: The order in which you add the ingredients to the pan is important. First, add the garlic and ginger, then the vegetables, and finally the noodles and sauce. This will help the flavors to meld together properly.
- Stir-fry the dish quickly: Stir-frying is a quick cooking method, so it's important to move quickly. Keep the heat high and stir the dish constantly to prevent the ingredients from burning.
Conclusion:
Ants Climbing a Tree is a delicious and easy-to-make dish that is perfect for a quick and easy weeknight meal. With a few simple ingredients and a little bit of time, you can create a flavorful and satisfying dish that the whole family will enjoy.
Are you curently on diet or you just want to control your food's nutritions, ingredients? We will help you find recipes by cooking method, nutrition, ingredients...
Check it out »
You'll also love