Szechuan noodles with lots of green vegetables and crispy minced meat

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 head of broccoli (approx. 500 g)
• 1 small head of pak choi or other cabbage (e.g. pointed cabbage or Chinese cabbage)
• 150 g sugar snap peas
• 150 g mung bean sprouts
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 piece(s) ginger (approx. 5 – 10 cm)
• 2 chili peppers, red
• 4 tbsp soy sauce
• 6 tbsp oil (e.g. peanut oil)
• 1 tsp pepper (Szechuan pepper, hot, according to taste)
• 500 g minced beef
• 2 tbsp honey, liquid
• 5 spring onions
• 1 ½ liters vegetable broth
• 300 g noodles (Chinese wheat or egg noodles)
• 2 limes, the juice
• possibly chili powder or dried chili flakes
• Salt

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 10 minutes; Total time approx. 55 minutes

versatile from pleasantly mild to hellishly hot

Wash and chop the vegetables. Divide the broccoli into small florets, finely slice the thin broccoli stalks, finely strip the cabbage, and halve the sugar snap peas. Set aside. For the sauce, whisk the soy sauce and oil together in a small bowl. Peel and finely dice the garlic and ginger, deseed and finely dice the chili peppers. Add everything to the sauce, mix, and set aside. Fry the minced meat in a large pan over high heat without adding any fat, stirring frequently, until crumbly. Once the meat is crispy, reduce the heat and add the honey. Toast the honey, then season with salt and Szechuan peppercorns (mild to hot) to taste, and remove from the heat. Finely slice the spring onions and set aside. Bring the vegetable stock to a boil in a very large pot, add the noodles to the boiling broth, and cook according to the package instructions (cook for about 5 minutes, depending on the type). Two minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the chopped vegetables, and one minute before the end of the cooking time, add the sprouts, and blanch. The water will stop boiling briefly because the vegetables are cold, so turn the heat up to high so the water quickly starts boiling again! It’s important that the vegetables are only cooked very briefly so they stay crisp. Skim off some of the cooking water and set aside, then drain the vegetables and noodles into a colander and return them to the pot. Now mix in the ground meat mixture and the sauce, adding a little more of the cooking water if necessary. Finally, stir in the spring onions and the juice of one lime, and season to taste with chili powder, chili flakes, salt, and Sichuan peppercorns. Serve with a lime quarter on top. The dish can also be prepared with other green vegetables – for example, finely chopped leeks, spinach or chard also taste good.