peanut sesame noodles

peanut sesame noodles

⏱️ 16 minutes prep, 35 minutes cook (51 minutes total)
📊 Hard
🍽️ Mexican Cuisine

Instructions

The fact that today is a startling 78 degrees with low humidity and the sun is streaming in wide ribbons through every windowed wall is leaving me as torn as I have ever been between my simultaneous urges to Take Walk! Frolic Outside! Drinks Beers on a Terrace, Somewhere! And come home late tonight with my skin smelling like summer and my forehead re-freckled and fall into a deep sleep, my legs twitching like a puppy who dreams about catching frisbees… and, you know, bake some things for tomorrow’s Seder. Hrm, is it actually any question what will win? Nevertheless, I haven’t even told you about my Single Girl’s Dinner from Monday night. No, calm down, Alex did not finally tire of me, the dishes I create and my incessant complaining about the wrinkles on my forehead (and the IfYouLovedMeYou’dBuyMeBotox!), etc. He just had some clients taking him out to dinner and I was in no mood for take-out. Well, that’s not true, I was in the mood for takeout-likefood, but I wanted it to be the way I like it which pretty much left me with the option of making it myself. Such is the life of the Too Picky For Their Own Good. I had cold peanut sesame noodles for the first time when I was 13 and had recently decided to go vegetarian. A friend who was also eschewing meat wanted to go to a Chinese restaurant and I was certain there would be nothing for us eat, but she ordered them for us and I was instantly, head-over-heels in love. If this was vegetarian food, I was in it for the long haul (or about until the age of 28, you know, whichever came first). However, it was many more years before I found a formula — this one –for it that allowed me to make it at home, any time I pleased. Monday night was a perfect excuse to dust off my old favorite. Since my resident tofu-skeptic was out, I added that too. And now the sun is out, too — squee! — I hope you all have a great weekend.

Ingredients

Sauce1/2 cup smooth peanut butter1/4 cup soy sauce1 tablespoon minced or finely grated fresh ginger1 garlic clove, minced or grated2 tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar1 1/2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil1 tablespoon honey1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes or a hot sauce or chili paste of your choice, to taste1/3 cup warm waterNoodles and Vegetables3/4 pound dried buckwheat soba noodles or another noodle of your choice4 scallions, thinly sliced1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks1 yellow bell pepper, cut into matchsticks1 medium carrot, cut into matchsticksHalf a large or two small seedless cucumbers, cut into matchsticks1 cup firm or extra-firm tofu, cut into thicker matchsticks3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted (white, black, or a mix thereof)

Cooking Tips

Updated with some freshly photos in 2023, thank goodness. These are the cold peanut sesame noodles I’ve been making since college. I always made it with buckwheat soba noodles because I loved the flavor and haven’t stopped since. Over the years I’ve had dalliances withother cold noodle recipesbut I recently came back to this one and it was like reuniting with an old friend. I forgot how perfect this sauce is. I can’t believe I ever tossed it aside for something new. We’ve been making up for lost time since.