Peanut Noodles

Due to the great success of Joe's last entry, we're in for another delicious and exciting edition of Joe's Cooking Corner!

And because we still had half a box of snow peas left we opted for another asian dish- this time a Thai influenced peanut noodles dish.  This originally came from Joe's mother, Sarah, who is a magnificent cook. You can dial up the heat by adding red pepper flakes, but I am a total wimp when it comes to hot and spicy, so Joe took mercy on me and made it nice and mild.  But as with most things this can be easily adjusted to be more sweet or salty or spicy, depending on how much you add of each ingredient so don't hold back from tasting as you go.

And without further ado, here's Joe:

To start this off I get all my main ingredients ready before I make the sauce.  First, cut up a chicken breast into chunks and toss them into a pan and with some olive oil and sesame oil in it.  Lightly season the chicken with some garlic pepper and salt and cook on medium heat till done.  In addition, boil water for the noodles.  You can use either traditional spaghetti noodles or rice noodles for this dish, we used spaghetti this time.

While the chicken and noodles are cooking, start to mix the sauce.  Like Courtney said, the sauce can easily be adjusted to your desired taste so it is important to be tasting as you mix it up.  Plus, its always a bit of a chemistry experiment because I never know the amounts.  To start, I put a good sized dollop of peanut butter into a mixing bowl.  Next, add a bunch soy sauce, some sesame oil, and honey to help cut the salt in the rest of the sauce.  Stir this mixture in the bowl until it is smooth, and keep tasting to see if your amounts need to be adjusted.  For example, if its too salty for you add some honey.  Now your sauce is done.

Now its time to put it all together.  Get a large pan (one big enough for the chicken, noodles, and vegetables).  For vegetable choices carrots, snow peas, broccoli, and peppers can be used, but feel free to toss your favorites into the pan too.  Put the vegetables into the pan with the sauce to start them cooking for a minute or two, then add your cooked chicken and noodles.  Cook this pasta mix on low for about ten minutes, making sure to stir it up so the sauce is coating everything.  Done.

And now for the pictures:

gather your ingredients:  peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame seed oil, and honey

we use plain old spaghetti, but you can use rice noodles or lo mein

on to the sauce:

clearly not enough sauce.

mix in your veggies of choice with the sauce and let them cook a little bit

add chicken and pasta as they finish cooking and stir them around on low

strain off the oil and fat from your chicken pan before adding your meat

and a side of edamame:

boil salted water, add fresh edamame for 3 minutes, strain, and season

delicious!


and the final product: