My niece is one of those crazy vegetarians. Not the total nutjob vegan type but your average every day vegetarian. I, on the other hand am one of those freakshow meat eaters. Meat, meat, meat. I. Eat. Meat.
I thought I ate a lot of it. I thought I was the meat eater of the century, capable of winning awards and making third world countries disease free with the juice of my antibiotic laced meat sweats. Turns out ... maybe I'm not as good at is as I thought.
For the past 2 years, for whatever reason, I've been taking a quick iPhone picture of my dinner and sending it to my niece before I settle down to put my incisors to good use. She Oooosss and Ahhhhsss over all of the vegetables, noodles and extra stuff while making barfing sounds at the sight of the meat. It's our thing. I make fun of her "lifestyle" as a vegetarian she makes fun of mine as a barbarian. Then we talk about what's going on in Homeland this season and whether or not we think her husband will make it a full month without injuring himself in some ridiculous way.
But the other day I scrolled through a few hundred of my dinner photos and realized ... I'm not the Majesty of Meat at all. I probably eat meat 3 out of 7 days a week which barely counts as a meat eater at all. I'd be laughed right out of caveman training.
Technically the recipe I'm going to show you today could be served with chicken but I kindda like it without. In fact, I way prefer it meatless.
It's Spicy Sesame Noodles. And it all comes down to the sauce.
I've been trying, searching for, experimenting with developing a spicy peanut type sauce for years now. I'd pretty much given up on it actually, then a month or so ago I thought I'd give it another shot.
I know there are a bunch of sesame noodle recipes out there that are really easy and pretty good, but I didn't want pretty good. I wanted great.
And low and behold it's not only vegetarian, it's VEGAN.
The important thing to this recipe, the only thing really, is the sauce. It's a spicy sesame/peanut sauce that will keep in the refrigerator for a few weeks. Probably longer actually but it's never lasted that long around these parts because it's so versatile. This sauce is GREAT on noodles, chicken, fried tofu, spring rolls, and it's especially good stirred into one of my favourite side dishes, sautéed kale with shredded carrots.
There are other sesame noodle sauce recipes with less ingredients, but that's why they taste a bit flat. This one has more depth of flavour making it taste more complex. In other words better.
The other great thing about this recipe is it's completely customizable. I've developed it for my tastes and so it has a balance of sweet, salty, acidic and heat. But if you don't like heat, then just don't add the chili pepper flakes. If you LOVE heat, then add more.
Ditto for the sugar, ginger, or anything else.
Spicy Sesame Noodles
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons sesame seeds toasted
- 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
- ¼ cup peanut butter
- 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
- 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 Tablespoon ginger fresh, grated
- 1 clove garlic
- ½ teaspoon hot sauce
- ¼ tsp. hot pepper flakes
- ½ cup hot water approximately
- 1 lb Chinese Noodles like Instant noodles for instance
- 4 green onions sliced thin
- 1 carrot grated or sliced in matchsticks
- 1 red bell pepper sliced very thin
Instructions
- To toast your sesame seeds just put them in a dry pan over medium low heat and toast until golden.
- Reserve 1 Tablespoon of the sesame seeds for garnish.
- Add the sesame seeds, soy sauce, peanut butter, rice vinegar, brown sugar, ginger, garlic, hot sauce, and pepper flakes to a blender or food processor. Blend until combined well.
- Add the water a tiny bit at a time until the sauce becomes runny like cream. Stop adding water once you're at the right consistency. You might not use all the water.
- Cook the noodles according to package directions. Instant noodles only take 1 minute to cook.
- Strain noodles and add the green onions, carrots and red peppers. Toss with the sauce then garnish with reserved sesame seeds.
Notes
Nutrition
Keep any leftover sauce in the fridge. It's great for chicken satays.
Unless of course you're a vegetarian. Or vegan. If that's the case then insert barfing sounds here.
She Yoshi
I've been reading your blog for years and love it but have never commented before, but my boyfriend made this for dinner yesterday and it was SO GOOD I felt the need to comment on this. He used spaghetti noodles and red wine vinegar instead of rice vinegar since he just threw it all together last minute. I was just telling him how much I was craving peanut noodles and then you made this post! Very fortuitous. And we are both vegetarian :) Thank you for all your hard work experimenting with peanut sauces!!
Karen
Thank YOU for finally commenting, lol. Glad you liked the sauce. Clearly you loved it to have gotten a first comment out of you! I'm pretty proud of my concoction. Think I might have it tomorrow night with fried tofu. Huh. Fried tofu. I'm gonna get laughed out of meat eaters camp. ~ karen!
Connie S.
OMG, This was delish! I made the sauce and served it for dinner tonite with chowmein noodles , carrots , red peppers and broccoli, with the green onions for the garnish. I had my concerns because the sauce seemed watery ( i only used 1/4 cup water) but it thickened up nicely with the heat of the noodles and veggies.
The only thing is , i used up most of the sauce and there's hardly any left over for another meal , LoL. Yup, It was that good!! It's a keeper. Well done Karen .
Karen
Glad you loved it! And thanks for coming back and letting me know. ~ karen!
MARILYN JOHNSON
You said that the Sesame sauce last for a few weeks. I am confused. How much do I put into this recipe or do I use all of it????
Karen
Hi Marilyn. You just add enough sauce to coat however many noodles (or pieces of chicken, etc.) that you have. A single serving of noodles would take a few tablespoons of sauce to coat them. ~ karen!
Jan in Waterdown
Alrighty, this looks like a good one to try out soon, especially since red peppers are $1.99/lb starting tomorrow @ my local grocery store. Karen, have you tried your fresh pea sprouts with it? I also really need to give kale a shot so thanks for the tips. Everyone just seems to go all gaga over it so I feel like such a loser for not jumping on it . . .
Audrey
Karen, I made this tonight and it was SUBLIME! When I tasted the sauce I heard angels sing! Thank you SO much!
Karen
Thanks for coming back and letting me know! I don't mind if you share, but let's face it, angels probably have enough good stuff goin' on in their lives. So I hope you didn't offer them any. ~ karen!
Nancy Blue Moon
Most anything noodles is popular here!
Karen
Well then this is clearly the recipe for you Nancy! (being made with noodles and all) ~ karen!
Lynne from Design The Life You Want To Live
Heaven. I'm in heaven. Sing it now. LOVE> LOVE. LOVE> LOVE. Just sayin'. I'm making this every day for the rest of my life.
Karen
O.K., well how be you try it once and then decide before committing to a life of it, lol. That's probably me being overly cautious though. ~ karen!
cbblue
Oh Karen,
This stuff is wonderful! My husband made it with garlic chili oil and chicken. It was amazing! Thank you so much for giving us this recipe. I may have to figure out what kale is; other than the ornamental variety. Now we may need to build a pizza oven. Thank you very much. Jeanne in Wisconsin
Karen
Thanks for coming back and letting me know! If you've never heard of kale and you try it ... you'll hate it, lol. Unless you happen to like bitter greens. If you do buy it see if you can find the black or lacinato version. It has dark blueish leaves. It's not as bitter or tough as the regular kale. SUPER healthy though. ~ karen!
Shauna
Funny, on the menu tonight is chicken satay:) I usually make it with rice, but I'm thinking I might do noodles tonight.
Laura Bee
Sounds awesome. I just finished my lunch of MrNoodles with a dash of sesame oil. Then I come here & see this. Weird. Next time I'll try this!
Laura Bee
And a little more weird for you- I piocked up a glass ginger grater today at a charity shop near me. The ladies were unpacking a bag of donations & I saw them pull it out & I had to have it. Adding ginger to my shopping list.
Gwen H.
Looks good. I may have to take this to a potluck.
Carole McGinnis
Yum - I love it when you post recipes. They are ALWAYS awesome!
amanda g
Ok, this post confirms that you are my psychic twin. Or that noodles are my psychic twin....it confirms something. A spicy peanut sauce I can stash and eat at a moment's notice? Thank you Goddess Of Sesame Noodles. My vegetarian self, my nutjob vegan daughter, and my 19 yr old newly vegetarian son, (formerly known as 'the Baconator') thank you most sincerely!
Karen
Excellent! ~ Freakshow
Sam ~ it doesn't taste like chicken
I used to be a freakshow meat eater, and then I switched to nutjob vegan overnight, and I haven't looked back! I had no idea that I would not only feel way better, but that my palette would change and now I WAY prefer my vegan diet.
P.S. that dish you just made is vegan! ;)
Karen
I know, ya nut job, lol. I said that at the beginning of the recipe. ~ karen!
Sam ~ it doesn't taste like chicken
Haha! Oh yeah. Sweet!
Elen @ Elen Grey
Yeah. I'll be trying that. Photograph is dynamite! Thanks for the skinny on the Weck jars. They just didn't look like they would seal properly. I love all of their shapes, however.
Cred
I love Thai peanut sauce but since it's not my husband's favourite, I've never tried researching recipes and making my own. Because I trust your recipes and since you suggest it will keep in the fridge for a few weeks, I am making this today. If it tastes like you describe, I dont expect that it will last long even if I'm the only one eating it.... out of the jar with a spoon.
Does the type of peanut butter matter- regular Kraft okay or would you suggest an all natural peanut butter?
Teri
I take exception to calling people who don't eat meat, dairy or eggs "nut jobs". There is nothing wrong with eating a whole food plant based diet and actually the word Vegan means more ...it is a whole different lifestyle. Vegans ( Peta people) are the ones that throw stuff on people that wear animal products etc. Not all people who don't eat meat, dairy and eggs refer to themselves as VEGAN. I don't eat that stuff but call myself a Whole foods plant based or starchivore.
Now to the recipes....sounds great and it is great...you can even sub in the PB2 to cut back on the fat calories in the recipe. So "barf barf" to your meat....
Karen
I'm guessing you might be new here. The nut job reference was hyperbole. Although frankly I do think vegetarians are nut jobs. Which is fine. I eat meat. They think I'm a nut job. No big whoop. As far as the word Vegan goes, it actually means exactly what I said it does. People who don't eat animal products. Here's the definition in Webster's Dictionary. The term vegan was first used in 1944 to describe someone who doesn't eat anything related to animals. Peta on the other hand didn't even form until 1980. So there you go. Barf away. ;) ~ karen!
Bonnie
I love this response, Karen. And, I just may love you for writing this response. LOL
Bonnie
SuzyMcQ
Looks delish! I too, add sesame oil and some cucumbers as well. If I have some fetuccini or linguine I use that rather than going to the overwhelming noodle aisle at the Asian grocery.
Karen
Try to brave the noodle aisle, lol. Your regular grocery store should have "Instant Noodles". They're the fastest and easiest way to go. One minute! ~ karen
Dee
The problem I have, when using wheat noodles with peanut or another yummy sauce, is that the wheat noodles soak up all the sauce-makes for disappointing planned-overs. Using rice noodles prevents this. BIG PLUS: They don't require cooking!
Mary Werner
Once the sauce is in the fridge, this supper would take less time than getting up to refill my iced tea. I LOVE sesame seeds! I love sautéed kale but never tried it with shredded carrots. Think that will be my next BIG effort at cooking. Thanks for some more good food recipes.
Connie S.
Looking forward to trying this with my daughter who's been vegetarian for almost 2 decades. I esp. enjoy Thai -asian style foods so this quick dinner would satisfy ALL of us, especially if i make the chicken satay for her meat eating brother and Dad ;)
Going to make the sauce right now !
thx Karen
Karen
Come back and let me know how you like it Connie S. Or if you made any changes to it. ~ karen!