Cold Sesame Noodles With Crunchy Vegetables
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This noodle salad is a great way to make a satisfying luch and use up what vegetables you have on hand. For this day we spiralized an English cucumber and sliced a red bell pepper. It would also be great with snow peas or green onions. It is an easy recipe to play with.
Serving size: 4
Time: 20 Minutes
I made this salad without the Nigella Seeds but you can find them at Amazon.
INGREDIENTS
4 cups chopped fresh crunchy raw vegetables: snow peas, bell peppers, cucumbers, scallions
12 ounces udon noodles or long pasta like linguine
2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
½ cup tahini, peanut butter or a combination
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce, or to taste or use low sodium
1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
1 tablespoon rice or white wine or other vinegar
Hot sesame oil or Tabasco sauce to taste
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Prepare the vegetables: trim, seed, peel as necessary and cut into bite-size pieces. Reserve in a container until ready to use.
Cook the noodles in the boiling water until tender but not mushy. When they’re done, rinse in cold water, then toss with a little sesame oil. Store in one or more containers.
Whisk together the sesame oil and tahini, sugar, soy, ginger, vinegar, hot oil and pepper in a large bowl. Thin the sauce with hot water until it’s about the consistency of heavy cream; you will need 1/4 to 1/2 cup per serving; store as desired.
When you’re ready to eat, toss a portion of the noodles and a portion of the vegetables; top with sauce and stir to coat.
This is one of Mark Bittman's recipes.
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