chinese inspired

These salt and pepper chips make a fantastic spicy side dish - crispy chips tossed together with Chinese five spice, garlic and chillies.

Salt and Pepper Chips Recipe

700 g (1 1/2 lbs) oven chips (fries)

sunflower oil

onion

red chilli

green chilli

tsp salt

tsp black pepper

½ tsp Chinese five spice

garlic

spring onions (scallions roughly chopped)

Cook the oven chips as per the instructions and when they are 5 minutes from the end make the topping.

Heat the 1 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan over a medium-high heat.

Add the chopped onion, the chopped red and green chillies, the ½ tsp of salt, ½ tsp of black pepper and the 1½ tsp Chinese five spice to the pan.

Fry for about 2-3 minutes, stirring often, until the onion starts to soften slightly.

Then turn down the heat to medium and add in the 2 cloves of minced garlic and 3 chopped spring onions.

Fry for a further minute, stirring often.

By now the chips should be ready. Add the chips to the frying pan with onion and chillies in and toss everything together for 1 minute.

Transfer to a serving dish and serve.

https://content.jwplatform.com/videos/8i8MqWcV.mp4

Easy homemade Chinese takeaway style Salt and pepper chips.

Salt & Pepper Chips

Turns out, dan dan noodles work well as a salad, in this recipe adapted from my cookbook “Linger: Salads, Sweets and Stories to Savor” (Knopf, 2025), as the signature punchy sauce made with sesame paste and chile oil transforms nicely into an assertive dressing. Curly and chewy ramen noodles cling perfectly to the sauce, but you could really use any noodle you like, including instant noodles, udon or thick rice noodles. Adapt this salad throughout the year by adding seasonal vegetables such as mushrooms, broccoli, cauliﬂower, sugar snap peas, snow peas, spinach or green beans.

Dan Dan Noodle Salad

Sea salt

baby bok choy (about 4)

ramen noodles

10 ounces fresh or canned corn kernels (or thawed from frozen)

toasted white sesame seeds

scallions, thinly sliced

sesame paste

chile oil

soy sauce

black or rice vinegar

sugar

garlic clove, grated

unsweetened nondairy milk (such

NYT Cooking

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/09/25/multimedia/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf-videoSixteenByNineJumbo1600.jpg

Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini. Prop Stylist: Sophia Eleni Pappas.

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/09/25/multimedia/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf-googleFourByThree.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/09/25/multimedia/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf-mediumSquareAt3X.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2025/09/25/multimedia/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf/25FD-FALL-PARTYrex5-dandan-salad-tqwf-facebookJumbo.jpg

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. 

Separate the white and green parts of the baby bok choy. Slice the white parts into thick pieces. Place in a colander and rinse well to remove any dirt or sediments. Drain.

Add the ramen to the boiling water and cook until al dente according to packet directions. About 1½ minutes before the noodles are ready, add the white parts of the baby bok choy and the corn. Just before everything is ready, throw in the green bok choy leaves and blanch until they are wilted, about 20 seconds. Drain immediately and refresh under cold running water, then leave to drain again. Let cool while you make the dressing.

Make the dan dan dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the sesame paste, chile oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar and garlic until a chunky paste forms. Add 2 tablespoons of the milk and whisk, adding another tablespoon if needed, until the dressing is smooth and pourable. The dressing should be the consistency of cream. (The dressing can be prepared up to 2 days ahead and stored in a sealed jar or airtight container in the fridge. It will thicken up, so add a splash or two of milk or water to loosen it up before adding to the noodles.)

In a large shallow bowl, place the ramen noodles, greens and corn. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Top with the sesame seeds, scallions and a few drops of chile oil. Taste and season with salt if needed. Serve at room temperature.

Unable to find bok choy so I added chopped long stem broccoli and mushrooms, added diced chicken breast and shrimp and turned it into a stir fry in my wok. Made the sauce to the recipe and spooned it over the hot food. Delicious and healthy meal.

Love this, came together easily. No tahini so used cashew butter. Subbed maple syrup for sugar. Doubled the sauce per others’ suggestions and glad I did. Threw in a few handfuls of spinach just before draining, which added yumminess. Will definitely make again!

Not a fan. Way too spicy for me. Sister OK with spice level but not blown away. I did use not as young baby bok choy. Ramen noodles from the package ended up too soft for her. The leaves were tough. Made a huge amount. Tossing the remainder. Not a keeper.

Made this today for the first time.  I don’t like food really hot so I added cayenne mixed in canola oil to taste.  I found this very bland.  I added extra garlic, onion powder, and vinegar.  Topped with seasoned tofu.  Also added less sugar and additional salt.  Not sure where I went wrong but found it lacking.

I added zucchini instead of bok choy and some pre-cooked shrimp that only needed defrosting and heating up in the water for a minute after the noodles are almost done. It is super adjustable and you can throw in or take out whatever you like I used peanut butter because I didn't have any sesame and next time I will try bok choy

This was fantastic! Because of family preferences, we used a different kind of noodle, chickpea flour. But it was great anyway. The sauce was amazing and I will use this sauce again for other things. It would be great on all manner of vegetables and proteins. I used Lao Gan Ma chili crisp and Yamaroku shoyu, which probably went a long way to making it so good. But really, this sauce would be amazing on anything.

This is tasty. I like the sauce concept a lot and it would work in other variations with other dishes. I would note that it didn’t really taste much like the hot Dan Dan noodles we get at the restaurants as it was lacking the Szechuan peppercorn flavor and ground protein, but it is good in its own different way.

I might try to remake it in case I made a mistake but this just didn't taste remotely like any dan dan noodles I've ever had.  I don't know what i did wrong but my sauce really wasn't good--bitter, needed more acidity and more flavor in general. Used tahini and rice vinegar because I didn't have Chinese sesame paste or black vinegar on hand, maybe that was it.  Or maybe the garlic clove I used was too strong.  Also I felt the veggie to noodle ratio was off.  Needs more veg to count as a salad.

This was good, but a little bland. I made half the salad and 2/3 of the dressing and there still wasn’t enough. Will try it again, with more dressing and maybe some sautéed mushrooms for more umami.

I felt I needed the greens doubled or maybe tripled. My husband used the small bok choy. It just wasn’t enough.

This came together in under 10 minutes with pantry and fridge staples. I didn't have corn, but lots of vegetables would be decent substitutes. It was flavorful and filling. I used dry rice Ramen. Truly, the 25 minute prep/cooking time is an overestimate.

A hit with adults and very young children. I left the chili crisp out and recommended it as a condiment on the table. Here's what else I used that varied from the recipe:for the salad,  about 5 1/2 oz of dried ramen noodles and a handful of stringbeans in addition to the corn and bok choy; for the dressing, which I made 1 1/2 times the recipe, I used tahini, tamari, rice vinegar, and water. Next time a little sesame oil before serving. This was good!

I am making this tonight. Will add Parmesean. Just my taste.

So very good!  Quick and easy.  Done in 20 minutes from the time I entered the kitchen. I  added zucchini because it’s still showing up as a daily contribution from my garden.  I will forever have these ingredients on hand in my kitchen.

I really liked this dish! I would double the sauce and add more veggies/ do less noodles next time. I also think crumbled and crisped tofu would be delicious here.

This was a great dish. The sauce is the star and we 1.5x it because I always like extra sauce. We also used water b/c we don’t have fake milk. Added tofu for protein. Will definitely have this recipe on our rotation!

This was as good as it read. I used mushrooms rather than corn, and water (have no fake milk) to thin the dressing - which to me, really made this work.
I didn't miss the pork at all, and for me, that's saying something. It was easy to scale down for one w/lunch the next day.

Delicious! I thought I had enough ramen noodles (dried) but I didn't, so I subbed soba (also dried). I just added a pinch of the sugar instead of the full amount and used half the chili oil. Thank goodness I didn't add all the chili oil, it was spicy enough for us. I had a coconut/oat milk half and half and that was perfect for the non-dairy milk. I'll definitely make it again and try to get fresh ramen noodles. I also might add some tofu and mushrooms.

@tanooh like the idea of adding tofu! Thank you.

This one’s a real winner! Totally delicious. You can adapt the dressing to suit your taste. I used chile crisp and Szechuan peppercorns. I kept the proportions as written, but doubled the dressing. I used 8 oz dried (not instant) ramen noodles and found that this amount of dressing was perfect.

@TiCo how did the soba work? Im looking to sub out the ramen totally for dietary reasons.

Because non-dairy milk is better for the planet and kind to animals.

Practically speaking, if this salad is going to be eaten right away, it probably doesn’t make a difference what milk you use. But if the dish will be at room temperature for a while (for example, you’re packing the dish for a lunch that doesn’t get refrigerated or taking it to a potluck where dishes sit out on a table), a non-dairy milk presents less risk of spoilage.

I’ll probably try soy milk for this dish for the protein.

I enjoyed this and appreciated how quick it came together. I doubled the sauce since I’d added extra noodles and veggies but it didn’t need that much. The sauce is delish and I didn’t miss any creaminess from the added milk. Water worked well to thin to the right consistency. It’s a great weeknight meal that provides perfect leftovers for a lunch that doesn’t need to be heated the next day

@Anon-E-Mouse non-dairy milks are not necessarily better, often they contain a number of added ingredients, such as preservatives, oils, fats, emulsifiers and artificial stabilisers. Sometimes, they contain sugars - but not always.

Delicious Sunday family lunch and used leftover sauce to marinate some chicken thighs which I barbecued the next day. Husband and father in law thought it the best chicken ever!

Any particular reason that it needs to be non=dairy milk?

@tan I was wondering how to get some necessary protein into this dish! Thanks

Dan Dan noodle sauce don’t have milk or milk substitute.  You need dry noodles but not ramen noodles.  Then you can use the water from cooking the noodles instead of ”milk”, just like in pasta. Also, if you don’t have sesame paste, you can easily substitute with creamy peanut butter (Skippy or Jif, homogenized peanut butter).

@peter

Yep! That’s why I’ve been making my own oatmilk lately. It doesn’t stay emulsified as well, but I just shake it up when I use it. I’m a blender, whir for about 70 seconds: 1/2 c oats, 2 T maple syrup, 1/4 salt, 1/2 t vanilla, 3 c water. Strain it through a sieve twice, to get rid of most of the solids. 

But for this recipe, I’d probably just use water.

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Salt and Pepper Chips Recipe

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