COLD NOODLE SALAD WITH PEANUT SAUCE AND VEGETABLES

INGREDIENTS

• - 8 oz of thin pasta - I used thin spaghetti 
• (cooked as per box instructions)
• - ½ cucumber - peeled, seeded and thinly sliced...
• - 1 carrot - peeled and thinly sliced
• - 1 small red pepper - seeded and thinly sliced
• - ¾ cup of shelled edamame beans 
• (I used fresh ones from Trader Joe's)
• - 3 thin scallions - green part only - 
• (sliced thinly)
• - 2 tbs peanut butter - chunky or smooth is okay
• - 2 tbs dark sesame oil
• - 1 tbs light soy sauce
• - 1 tbs rice wine vinegar
• - 1 tsp honey
• - ⅛ tsp red pepper flakes
• - 1 tbs water
• - ¼ cup peanuts - dry roasted or blistered peanuts

INSTRUCTIONS

- Cook pasta according to package instructions. 
Drain in a colander and rinse under cold water and set aside.

- Slice the cucumber, carrot and red pepper into thin 
matchstick shapes all roughly the same size - set aside.

- Slice scallions thinly and set aside.

- Measure out edamame and set aside.

- Add peanut butter, dark sesame oil, soy sauce, 
rice wine vinegar, honey, red pepper flakes and water to a small jar. 
Shake vigorously until combined.

- Pulse ¼ cup of peanuts in a food processor until they are 
finely chopped.

- In a large bowl, add cold pasta. 
Toss with peanut sauce - a bit at a time - until all combined. 
Add all veggies to the pasta with peanut sauce and toss to combine.

- For each serving, sprinkle a little bit of chopped peanuts on top.

~~*~~

The peanut dressing is a light sauce with a hint of sesame oil, rice wine 
vinegar and soy sauce.  It’s not a heavy, thick sauce – it lightly coats the noodles. 
The vegetables are crunchy and cool – bright green edamame, 
pale green cucumbers, red peppers, orange carrots and green scallions 
– they’re a colorful bunch. I carefully sliced the cucumber, 
red peppers and carrot as thin and evenly as I could 
– I was going for matchstick thin slices – and tried to keep them roughly 
the same size and length.  
A sprinkle of chopped peanuts at the end adds some additional crunch 
and a little more peanut flavor to the salad.

A couple of notes:
After cooking the noodles, you’re going drain them in a colander and then 
rinse them under cold water to cool them off.  
If for some reason you leave them for a bit and they stick together
 – no worries – just rinse them again under a little cold water and they
 will all magically unstick.

You want to toss the cold noodles first with the peanut sauce.  Add a little bit of sauce at a time as you toss so all the noodles are evenly coated.  Once all the noodles are covered in the peanut sauce, add the vegetables and give it a final toss.  Make sure to use a large bowl so you have lots of room for all the ingredients.

You can use smooth or chunky peanut butter for the dressing.  
I used a natural chunky peanut butter.

I left the white part of the scallion out since I feel it’s too strong 
and I wanted the peanut flavor to shine through.  
So only use the green part of the scallions.

When you pulse the peanuts (to add as a topping) in the food processor 
– be careful not to process too long – 
otherwise you’ll end up with peanut butter.

This cold noodle salad with peanut sauce and vegetables is great the next day.  
If you’re refrigerating it for any length of time 
– keep the chopped peanut topping separate – 
they don’t refrigerate well with the sauce – they lose their crunch.

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