Udon Noodles in Curry-Coconut Sauce with Asparagus
(This is my first post, though I've been reading for a while and love everything everyone posts. I write a vegan cooking column for my college paper so I figured I would spread the love with the most recent recipe [maybe I'll start doing this every week!])
Ingredients:
Udon Noodles (up to you really-I used two “packs”)
5-8 asparagus spears, chopped
1 can coconut milk
5-7 shitake mushrooms
½ container of extra firm tofu, cubed
2 inches ginger, minced or grated
1 clove garlic, minced
½ - 1 tbs. curry
1 tsp. garam masala
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tsp. rosemary
In a saucepot, bring coconut milk to boil. As soon as the coconut milk boils, lower the temperature to low. Add the tofu, mushrooms, ginger, and garlic. Turn up heat slightly and stir occasionally. Let all the ingredients soak together for ten minutes or so, but keep an eye on it! Depending on your stove, the heat might be too much for the coconut milk!
Now then, in a pasta pot, boil water. While that’s boiling, prepare the asparagus for blanching. What is blanching? This is a good way of getting your greens GREEN and tender fast. Simply boil water and throw your veggies into the water, but only do this for a minute or so because that gorgeous green that comes out of the heated water will quickly turn less savory and less nutritious and nobody wants that. To prepare asparagus, I’ve always found the best way to go about it is to bend the top and bottom of the spear-wherever the spear snaps, that indicates where the nutrients are in your vegetable and hence the tenderness and all that other good stuff. Discard those white parts. Once the water boils, toss the asparagus into the water. Again, only do this for a minute. Asparagus are especially sensitive-their little heads go crazy under heat! Do not drain the water! Scoop out the asparagus and let them sit on a cookie sheet or paper towel sheets. In the same water, throw in your udon noodles. Let cook for three- five minutes. Again, lots of these ingredients cook fast, so just watch for that.
Drain udon noodles. In the pasta pot, combine the noodles and the sauce. Stir together and add the curry, garam masala, cayenne pepper, and rosemary. Let sit for five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (though why would you) and enjoy!
Ingredients:
Udon Noodles (up to you really-I used two “packs”)
5-8 asparagus spears, chopped
1 can coconut milk
5-7 shitake mushrooms
½ container of extra firm tofu, cubed
2 inches ginger, minced or grated
1 clove garlic, minced
½ - 1 tbs. curry
1 tsp. garam masala
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tsp. rosemary
In a saucepot, bring coconut milk to boil. As soon as the coconut milk boils, lower the temperature to low. Add the tofu, mushrooms, ginger, and garlic. Turn up heat slightly and stir occasionally. Let all the ingredients soak together for ten minutes or so, but keep an eye on it! Depending on your stove, the heat might be too much for the coconut milk!
Now then, in a pasta pot, boil water. While that’s boiling, prepare the asparagus for blanching. What is blanching? This is a good way of getting your greens GREEN and tender fast. Simply boil water and throw your veggies into the water, but only do this for a minute or so because that gorgeous green that comes out of the heated water will quickly turn less savory and less nutritious and nobody wants that. To prepare asparagus, I’ve always found the best way to go about it is to bend the top and bottom of the spear-wherever the spear snaps, that indicates where the nutrients are in your vegetable and hence the tenderness and all that other good stuff. Discard those white parts. Once the water boils, toss the asparagus into the water. Again, only do this for a minute. Asparagus are especially sensitive-their little heads go crazy under heat! Do not drain the water! Scoop out the asparagus and let them sit on a cookie sheet or paper towel sheets. In the same water, throw in your udon noodles. Let cook for three- five minutes. Again, lots of these ingredients cook fast, so just watch for that.
Drain udon noodles. In the pasta pot, combine the noodles and the sauce. Stir together and add the curry, garam masala, cayenne pepper, and rosemary. Let sit for five minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste (though why would you) and enjoy!