Thursday, July 14, 2011

Mama Pea’s Peanut Noodles

Hey guys! Happy Thursday, or Emilyday if you subscribe to it. :) How goes it? Things are going pretty well here. I finally got a good night’s sleep last night after a few nights of tossing and turning and random assaults by bugs (ick!) and it was glorious. I’m feeling quite rested and chipper. It helps, too, that the weather is phenomenal – sunny and about 75. I could deal with this all year round, that is for sure!

Anywho, as I mentioned on Monday, I had exciting plans for Tuesday night – making a yummy dinner for my friend Sarah and her husband Michael. Sarah has a great little blog that focuses on their adorable home. She’s super crafty, and just all around awesome. Sarah and her husband recently redid their kitchen and it is beautiful. I may have suggested this dinner date just to have a chance to use it! She has this amazing spice rack, and oh the granite counters that welcome hot pots!!

On the menu was a recipe by someone you may all know – the famous Mama Pea. While I have literally drooled over so many of her recipes in the past, I have never made any! Not one! So, when I saw her recent recipe for peanut noodles, I knew I had to try it out. (It was also the meal that Sarah, who is not only awesome - but pregnant, thought sounded good).

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To save some prep time, I chopped all of the veggies and prepared the peanut sauce prior to my arrival at Sarah’s. I purchased and chopped my very first stalks of bok choy and a green bell pepper for the stir fry and placed them in a Tupperware along with the two cups of edamame. The sauce took a bit more time and lots of measuring.

Into the blender went ½ cup of light coconut milk, ½ cup fire roasted tomatoes, ¼ cup peanut butter, 3 tbsp low sodium soy sauce, 1 tbsp honey, the juice of one lime, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp of fresh ginger and a healthy squirt of sriracha. Man, was this sauce good. I had to keep myself from taking a straw to it while transferring to my trusty recycled marinara jar for transport.

Once I got to Sarah’s, the cooking was easy peasy (did you see what I did there in honor of Mama Pea?). Just heated up some water for the rice noodles and sautéed the veggies over medium with some olive oil spray.

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Once everything was cooked, I just combined and poured the sauce over top. I did forget to pick up peanuts and left out the fresh cilantro knowing that it can be something of a polarizing flavor. :)

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Because it was pretty hot on Tuesday, we opted to chill the noodles prior to consumption. That was a good call, I think. I’m sure that they would be delicious warm, too, however.

Everyone, including a somewhat skeptical and nervous Michael, loved the meal. We used ample amounts of sriracha (which I think will become a new household item for Sarah and Michael) and sat for a long time over a leisurely dinner. It was so nice. (Thanks, Sarah, for letting me invade your kitchen!)

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I will definitely be making this recipe again – in fact, my mom requested it for the next time I come home! I think I may add some onion and perhaps broccoli, just because. My only complaint/problem was that the noodles got super clumpy. Any recommendations for how to prevent that?

3 comments:

lee said...

I made that last week and it was really good. I didn't notice my noodles clumping. I think I used udon noodles instead of rice noodles. Don't know if that makes a difference.

Sarah said...

Clumpy noodles....so NOT an issue! I loved the meal! But especially loved the company. It was a SUPER idea and come invade again soon! ;)

Sarena Shasteen - The Non-Dairy Queen said...

You are such a good friend cooking for them! Sounds like an incredible meal!