Lime Peanut Noodles
3/4 pound whole-wheat noodles
2 cups broccoli florets
2 cups snow peas
2 cups sugar snap peas
1/2 cup shelled unsalted peanuts, optional
1/2 cup natural creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 scallion, chopped
3/4" fresh ginger, finely grated
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. Drain and rinse with cold water. While the pasta is cooking, steam broccoli in a steamer for 3 minutes.
2. Add the snow peas and sugar snap peas and steam for 2 minutes more. Toast the peanuts in a dry pan over a medium heat, about 3 minutes, if desired. Set them aside to cool.
3. Make the sauce by pureeing the peanut butter, soy sauce, water, vinegar, lime juice, scallion, ginger, sugar and red pepper flakes in a food processor or blender until smooth.
4. Right before serving, toss the pasta with 3/4 cup of the peanut sauce. Divide into 6 serving bowls and top each serving with the vegetables.
5. Drizzle the remaining sauce over the vegetables. Coarsely chop the peanuts, sprinkle them on top and serve.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Made this for dinner tonight and it was so.... good! I only made three changes to the recipe. I used Udon noodles, added some water chestnuts and thai flavored tofu.
I make a very similar recipe, but I like to add 2 teaspoons of toasted sesame oil an a tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds. Also, I just make the sauce on the stove, stirring for about 5 minutes on medium heat. And the more veggies the better I think. I use whatever I have, but it's good with carrots, cauliflower, and water chestnuts too!
And for me a lot of times the sauce gets dry and clumpy in the fridge. I add about a teaspoon of vegetable or olive oil before I reheat leftovers and when I mix it up the sauce is nice and smooth again.
This made me go nom, nom, nom, nom, nom! I used brown rice pasta since I didn't have any whole wheat and only 1 Tbsp. of brown sugar since I'm not big on the sweet. I also found myself without unsalted peanuts so I used salted cashews, I'm big on the salty. Tossed in a little extra red pepper flake and it was delish!