Ants Climbing a Tree (simplified Chinese: 蚂蚁上树; traditional Chinese: 螞蟻上樹), also known as Ants Climb Tree or Ants Climbing Up a Tree, etc., is a classic Sichuan dish in Chinese cuisine. It consists of ground meat cooked in a sauce and poured over bean thread noodles. It is so called because the bits of ground meat clinging to the noodles evoke an image of ants walking on twigs.
Other ingredients in the dish might be rice vinegar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, sesame oil, scallions, garlic, ginger, and chili paste.
To make the "ants", meat is marinated for a short time at room temperature while the noodles are soaked to soften. In a wok, oil is heated until almost smoking. The scallions, garlic, and ginger are cooked slightly in the wok before the marinated meat is added. Add the softened noodles to the wok to soak up the flavor and juices.
To make the "tree", add some of the dry noodles that have not yet been softened to hot oil. The noodles will puff immediately and can be removed with a bamboo and stainless wire skimmer, then set on paper towels to drain before adding the ants.
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