Asian-inspired Cold (or Hot) Noodle Salad

What I love about this salad is how versatile it is. You can make as a light dish or as a main course, you can cook your vegetables or include them raw, you can make it spicy, savory, or even a little sweet.  You can tailor the recipe easily to what is in season and readily available.  

Also it saves and travels well (hello, picnic!)  Keeping this is the house or whipping up for a pot-luck can save you from grabbing take-out or stopping off to pick-up preprepared potato salad from the grocery store.

Basic Idea:

• A noodle/pasta (buckwheat, wheat or regular pasta, whatever you choose)
• Vegetables
• Simple Asian Peanut Sauce (see below)
• Protein (Tofu or chicken) optional

The basic idea is that you make a simple sauce and toss it over cooked noodles and raw or cooked vegetables of your choice [you can add a chicken or tofu if desired] and serve.  I usually serve this chilled but could also be served warm. Very easy and very very tasty.

Adjust the amount of sauce, vegetables and noodles to your liking.




Recipe:

1. Prepare noodles according to the the package directions. We typically use buckwheat pasta (or soba noodles) because it has a nice flavor. 

2. If you plan to add a protein, tofu or chicken, prepare it separately (can be baked, leftover, sauteed) and set aside. It's not necessary to season the tofu or chicken separately. We've used sauteed tofu in this dish quite a bit.

3. Fresh Vegetables. Be creative and add what you life, what is in season, and what looks good at the grocery store or market. You can add your vegetables raw or cooked (steamed or sauteed). Another idea is to add most raw and take some, like carrots or broccoli, and add them to the last minute or two of the pasta water to soften them some. Some ideas for vegetables: carrots (raw or cooked), radishes (raw or try them cooked! Delicious!), cucumbers (raw), zucchini (raw or cooked), bell peppers (raw or cooked), cabbage (raw or cooked), bok choy (raw or cooked), green beans (raw or cooked), broccoli (cooked), or mushrooms (cooked).

4. Add the vegetables, protein, and noodles toss together in a pot or bowl.  I really like this dish with a lot of vegetables.  Thinking in ratios, I'd suggest using three times as much volume of vegetables as you have protein and noodles.

5. Prepare the sauce. This sauce can be as exotic or spicy as you'd like, but don't be afraid, it can also be a simple, creamy, savory, peanut-based sauce. I've provided three variations of simple Asian peanut sauces as guides but you can adjust to your own taste. Each of these makes approximately 1.5 cups of sauce, which should be good for approximately 10 cups of the pasta/vegetable mixture.

     Creamy Peanut Sauce
     1/3 cup natural creamy peanut butter (natural is a must!)
     1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
     1 T sesame oil
     1 tsp sugar (natural not refined)
     3 T reduced-sodium soy or reduced-sodium tamari sauce
     1 T rice wine or white vinegar

     Tangy Spicy Peanut Sauce (my favorite!)
     1 1/2 T natural creamy peanut butter (natural is a must!)
     1/2 cup vegetable or chicken broth
     1/2 T sesame oil
     1 tsp sugar (natural not refined)
     3 T reduced-sodium soy or reduced-sodium tamari sauce
     2 T rice wine or white vinegar
     1 T chili oil or chili garlic paste or 1/2 T red pepper flakes
     2 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger

     No Peanuts Please Sauce
     2/3 cup vegetable or chicken broth
     1/2 T sesame oil
     1 tsp sugar (natural not refined)
     3 T reduced-sodium soy or reduced-sodium tamari sauce
     2 T rice wine or white vinegar
     1 tsp chili garlic paste or 1 tsp red pepper flakes
     1 tsp ginger

5.  Toss and Serve.  Toss your sauce over the vegetable/noodle mixture. Serve right away warm or give it "time to think" in the refrigerator and serve cold later.  I'll usually make a large batch (with everything tossed together, including the sauce) and keep for several days, for a few lunches and dinners.     

Shopping Tips:

• I consider the ingredients in these sauces staples in my kitchen. However, if you never use one of these ingredients and know you won't again, leave it out.  The last thing you want to do is to buy a big bottle/jar of something where the rest goes bad and is thrown out.  Email me or leave a comment if want tips on further customizing these sauces. 
• It's really important to use natural peanut butter.  Ingredients should just be peanuts or just peanuts and salt. 
• Buy whatever vegetables look best at your market.  Try to buy in season.  It's cheaper, it will taste better and is less likely to have been shipped from halfway across the world. 
• Use whatever quantity of vegetables you buy (whole cucumber, whole head of broccoli etc.) so you don't end up with extra ingredients that will go bad.  We've all pulled a slimy half-cucumber from the bottom of our refrigerator because the recipe called for something like 1 cup of chopped cucumber.