Cold Peanut Noodles

Sometimes a dish needs to be made a couple of times before you get it right.  This was such a dish, but in the end, it was so good that I’m glad we only made one package of noodle because even though we were very full, we would have kept eating.  The kids and I readily admitted that and

This experiment started yesterday; I wanted peanut noodles, but not sesame noodles, I was looking for the more intense peanut flavor and I scoured the internet for different recipes.  In the end, I made one up myself, as nothing was exactly what I was looking for.

The one thing I wanted to do was use the vermicelli rice sticks and I bought a package, but there were no cooking instructions on the package.

There was however, a recipe on the back that said to soak the noodles in cool water for 5-8 minutes, so I filled a bowl with cool water and put the noodles in the bowl.  After five minutes they were still hard.  After eight minutes they weren’t much softer.  I let them sit for 20 minutes and after that they looked ok.  They actually looked pretty.

I added the vegetables and the sauce to the noodles and… well…  I should have tasted the noodles before I did that.  They sure are pretty, aren’t they?

Well.  They were very crunchy and chewy and sticky and not at all yummy, so the children and I picked through and ate the veggies (cause I hate waste and the sauce and veggies were pretty tasty), but we threw out the inedible noodles and had wraps for dinner. Sad, right?

Anyway.  I went back to the supermarket and bought more ingredients and tried it again today.  This time I researched how to cook the noodles and found very differing opinions, so here’s what I did:

Bring a large pot full of water to a boil and then shut off the burner. When the water stops boiling, add the noodles and let sit.  Mine were ready in ten minutes. Drain and cool. Perfect, yummy, delightful noodles.

While they’re soaking, take a dry, non stick pan and heat on med/high heat.  When it’s hot, pour a bunch of sesame seeds into the pan and toss them for a couple of minutes.

when they turn golden brown, transfer them to a heat resistant bowl or plate.  Make sure you transfer them, because they will keep cooking in the hot pan even if you take it off the heat.  Here’s what they should look like.

Delish. Toasted sesame seeds. For cheap.  You’re welcome.

For the sauce:

3/4 c. organic peanut butter

6 oz. low sodium soy sauce *we made this again tonight, with regular soy sauce, you really need the low sodium

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced

2 packets Truvia (stevia sweetener) or equivalent, one packet = two teaspoons

8 (or s0) tablespoons vegetable broth

toasted sesame seeds (however many you like)

put all the ingredients in a bowl except for the broth and whisk. then start to add vegetable broth, one tablespoon at a time till the consistency is liquid enough that you’ll be able to toss the noodles with the sauce

For the salad:

Two cucumbers peeled, seeded and julienned

a handful of julienned carrots

1 bunch of scallions chopped

Pour sauce over noodles and gently toss until completely combined.

This probably would have been even better if we had chilled it, but we were starving and it was awesome. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum.Similar Posts:

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