Sesame Peanut Noodles

I love peanuts. I do. I have cravings for peanuts that need immediate attention several times in a week. Thankfully, I am never far away from some source of peanut or the other.


Anyways…so Peanut Sesame Noodle combines my love for peanuts and sesame oil and all things good. I’ve tried several recipes, nigella’s, pioneerwoman’s but nothing made me happy. Most recipes use peanut butter…and somehow the peanut lover in me would remain not quite satisfied.

So today, when all was quiet, the TV was switched off, the music was playing and I had no one to satisfy but me, inspiration slowly snuck up. And I made my version of the peanut sesame noodle.

In hindsight, it is inspired by everything I read and my mom’s sabudana Kichdi. But it worked.

Sesame  Peanut Noodles
Ingredients:

Sesame Oil                    2 Tbs
Soy Sauce                     1 Tbs
Peanuts                          50 gms (roasted without salt)
Garlic                             3 pods
Red Chili                        1 ½ pieces (this makes for very spicy, suited me today, but reduce to 1 if needed)
Sweet Chili Sauce           ½ Tbs (optional, can replace it with ½ teaspoon of sugar)
Salt                                2 teaspoons (tempted to say to taste…but, I restrain)
Linguine/Egg Noodles     150 gms, refer note (or wheat spaghetti like I had)

Sesame seeds                 1 Tbs

Juice of 1 lime
Handful of Coriander leaves chopped
Handful of parsley chopped
Handful of spring onion chopped

Method:

Boil the spaghetti/linguine/Egg Noodles as per instructions, with 2 teaspoon of salt. Test to see if it suits your taste, boil some more if needed (That’s Al Dante explained!). Strain the noodles and preserve some of the cooking water.

Grind the chili and garlic in a mixer, without water, till the chili is flaky. Now add the roasted peanuts and grind for a few seconds. Use the Pulse option in the mixer. The mixture should be grainy with some whole pieces and some fine powder. And should smell totally, totally awesome.

In a large mixing bowl, add the sesame oil, soy sauce, Sweet Chili Sauce and the chopped herbs (spring onion, coriander and parsley). Add the cooked noodle and toss well. Finally add the peanut mixture and mix everything together.

Add some of the reserved cooking liquid if the noodle seems a little dry.

Top with sesame seeds and let it set for 10 mins before serving


This serves two…or dinner and next day’s lunch for one.

Note:-

Here’s how I measured the spaghetti, I made a circle with my thumb and forefinger till it was the size of a lime and that’s how much spaghetti I used. It is 150 gms, basis the proportion of the total that got used up.