Japanese Style Noodles
100g mihoen (thin rice noodles)
1 teaspoon fresh ginger, cut into small bits
1 teaspoon fresh garlic, cut into small bits
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 block firm tofu, cubed (size up to the cook)
1 1/2 cup broth of mihoen
2 tablespoon peanut butter (heaping spoons)
lightly steamed veggies: broccoli, celery, carrots, red and green bell peppers, etc.
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon red (roasted or not) chilli paste
1 tablespoon black bean paste
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder mixed in 4 tablespoon water
2 tablespoon (roasted) sesame oil
1 large green onion
Boil water for noodles (about 1 litre for 100 gram noodles). When water boils add the noodles till they turn limp and turn water off. Put lid and let stand off fire for 5-7 minutes. Drain reserving 1 1/2 cup of their broth.
While noodle water boils, steam veggies the Asian way: quarter pan of water boiled, with a colander filled with veggies on top (or if you don't have one, then cook the veggies in the water - but be careful not to overcook them), and a lid to cover to steam.
Heat up oil in wok and saute ginger, garlic, onions, and tofu for 10 min. Add soy sauce, bean paste, and chilli paste and mix well. When mixture bubbles, add arrowroot mixed in water and let the whole mixture turn thick. Take off heat and let sit.
Mix noodle broth (1 1/2 cup) with peanut butter.
Take between two and four good size bowls (depending upon the number of people who will be eating), and distribute the cooked parts in the following order:
1. noodles on bottom 2. veggies on top of noodles 3. broth on top of veggies 4. tofu mixture on top of broth and veggies and noodles 5. chopped green onion to cover prettily
and...serve with chopped sticks, a smile and a whole lot of love.
Enjoy.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
I realized while making this that it's more like the peanut butter version of "dan dan noodles," a Szechuan dish. I've really not seen much of peanut butter or black bean paste in Japanese cooking, and mihoen usually seems to mean Chinese rice noodles, *and* what's weirder is kannas' photo is soba noodles with butternut squash, which isn't this recipe at all.
Anyway, this recipe worked out. There wasn't a ton of broth (not a big deal), the tofu wound up a bit spicy, and I added a little sugar to the broth because I'm more used to peanut butter that way. It was good, but I'll probably mellow out on the chili paste and black bean sauce next time.
what is a chopped stick?
Kannas that's a gorgeously tempting photo - I will try this soon. :)