Another quick dinner out of the pantry: peanut noodles.
I like those Sun Luck noodles (a Seattle company, by the way) called somen.
They’re smaller than udon noodles or yakisoba noodles, and stretched thin, so they cook really fast.
There are various recipes, but last night, I
just mixed what I had in a big metal bowl: a big spoonful of crunchy peanut butter, about ¼ cup, to which I added some hot water, maybe 2 tablespoons, so it would melt a little bit and mix easily.
I added some sesame oil, some chili oil, a couple of tablespoons of rice wine vinegar, some tamari (you could use soy sauce, of course) and honey, about a tablespoon each. I had garlic but I forgot to add it. You can throw in some red pepper flakes if you want.
The Sun Luck noodles come in little packets, with a strip of paper wrapping each packet. Each packet is about 3 ounces of noodles, which take just three or four minutes to cook. You cook them, drain them, dump them in the peanut butter sauce and toss them around to coat.
With any luck, you will have some green onions in your crisper drawer to chop and scatter on top, but I didn’t have any. You can add julienned peppers, carrots, cucumber. I didn’t julienne anything either. You can add cooked shrimp or chicken. I didn’t add any of that either. Let’s just say I was a purist.
You can eat the noodles warm and they’re darn good. But somen noodles are meant to be eaten cold, so if you have the time, refrigerate them for 30 minutes before you eat them.
The leftovers are great for lunch the next day.
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