Yum, noodles
I just made spicy peanut noodles using this recipe from Food & Wine.
Of course, me being me, I played around with the recipe a bit: Could not find toasted sesame oil at the store to save my life, wasn't wanting to mess around with the fresh ginger and garlic this time, and am not a fan of celery or cilantro. So I found some sesame sauce from Ty Ling that contains soy sauce, garlic, ginger and sesame oil (among other things) and substituted that for the sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in the recipe. I left out the cilantro and celery (but would maybe throw in some carrots in the future). Not having a blender , I melted the peanut butter in the microwave to make it more liquid, and mixed the sauce by hand with a whisk.
It turned out well, and I'm liking the sneaky spiciness that contrasts with the sweet, salty and nutty flavors. Not quite as good as my favorite restaurant cold noodles in Chicago, but a pretty damned good substitute.
(If you decide to make this, remember that once the sauce cools, it tends to solidify, because of the peanut butter. If it's too solid to mix when you get it out of the fridge the next day, shake the noodles in their container to remix it. Or heat it up to mix it.)
Of course, me being me, I played around with the recipe a bit: Could not find toasted sesame oil at the store to save my life, wasn't wanting to mess around with the fresh ginger and garlic this time, and am not a fan of celery or cilantro. So I found some sesame sauce from Ty Ling that contains soy sauce, garlic, ginger and sesame oil (among other things) and substituted that for the sesame oil, soy sauce, garlic and ginger in the recipe. I left out the cilantro and celery (but would maybe throw in some carrots in the future). Not having a blender , I melted the peanut butter in the microwave to make it more liquid, and mixed the sauce by hand with a whisk.
It turned out well, and I'm liking the sneaky spiciness that contrasts with the sweet, salty and nutty flavors. Not quite as good as my favorite restaurant cold noodles in Chicago, but a pretty damned good substitute.
(If you decide to make this, remember that once the sauce cools, it tends to solidify, because of the peanut butter. If it's too solid to mix when you get it out of the fridge the next day, shake the noodles in their container to remix it. Or heat it up to mix it.)