Faux Thai food = (easy) yum!
Today Catherine (ambiguously ONE of my two roommates) and I went to a local Asian grocery store, United Noodles. I had heard of it before but had never actually been inside. I don't know if you know this about me, but I LOVE grocery stores. Even if I have no idea what the labels say, I love the variety and just getting a sense of how they're different from place to place. So this was an experience.
It's so big! And there's so much there! Including many, many products I had never seen or heard of before, as well as more common Asian foods that are just much cheaper there than at a mainstream supermarket. I don't profess to know a lot about various types of Asian cuisines, but after looking for seaweed paper to make sushi in Winona, I think it's really great that the Twin Cities have this store as a resource.
ANYWAY, I was only there to get Udon noodles, so I could make this vaguely Thai dish: Peanut Butter Noodles, which turned out to be really, really good. I used chunky peanut butter instead of peanut butter plus peanuts, and I used Sriracha instead of a chili paste, but those are both pretty minor. SO SO GOOD. Possibly a little thick, but I think I put in a little too much peanut butter, and that could easily be fixed by adding more broth. I imagine it'd also be great with chicken added, or other veggies. But for something easy and quick, this was great.
In other news, ladyjoust just sent me a bunch of great recipes that I'll have to try sometime. If any of the rest of you have some you'd like to share, feel free to send them my way!
It's so big! And there's so much there! Including many, many products I had never seen or heard of before, as well as more common Asian foods that are just much cheaper there than at a mainstream supermarket. I don't profess to know a lot about various types of Asian cuisines, but after looking for seaweed paper to make sushi in Winona, I think it's really great that the Twin Cities have this store as a resource.
ANYWAY, I was only there to get Udon noodles, so I could make this vaguely Thai dish: Peanut Butter Noodles, which turned out to be really, really good. I used chunky peanut butter instead of peanut butter plus peanuts, and I used Sriracha instead of a chili paste, but those are both pretty minor. SO SO GOOD. Possibly a little thick, but I think I put in a little too much peanut butter, and that could easily be fixed by adding more broth. I imagine it'd also be great with chicken added, or other veggies. But for something easy and quick, this was great.
In other news, ladyjoust just sent me a bunch of great recipes that I'll have to try sometime. If any of the rest of you have some you'd like to share, feel free to send them my way!