What exactly IS tantan men?

I have tantan men on the brain. But I've run into sort of a snag in my development of the method.

Usually a particular style of ramen has a certain distinct characteristic in the soup. Shoyu ramen has soy sauce, and is brown tinged. Tonkotsu is creamy and white. Even regional styles often have a distinguishing piece, if nuanced.

But tantan men... I have almost no idea. I know it's based on dan dan noodles, a spicy Sichuan noodle dish with sesame and chili oil. Sometimes the dish is without broth, sometimes not. In china it often includes pickled vegetables of some kind, though this isn't entirely the case in Japan. There, the vegetable of choice is usually bokchoy or cabbage. A "soboro" style ground pork is also pretty typical.

So as far as toppings and aroma oil, we're in the clear. Sesame chili oil, soboro, bokchoy. Easy.

But as a dish, since it isn't inherently tied to the base broth like other styles, tantan men is much harder to nail down. Do you go with a fish stock? Do you go chicken forward? Double soup! Tonkotsu? (If Tonkotsu, shouldn't it be fairly light to not be overwhelmed by the fat from the sesame?)

And what about the noodles? Those can change dramatically depending on the richness of the broth.

Is there even a "tare" in the typical sense? I've seen a few recipes that use ground sesame and xo sauce, but that's a wash too!

I'm going to play with it this weekend I think... If it turns out like garbage, at least I tried?

Somehow, the most freedom in the style makes it even more cumbersome.