Spicy Thai Noodles with Vegetables

Sue Lau's Note:

This makes an excellent side dish to go with main-dish stir fries or satays. Add meat to make a main dish. You can locate lemongrass and fish sauce in most Oriental markets.

• Total Time: 30 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

• 16 ounces rice noodles or 16 ounces rice vermicelli
• 2 cups mung bean sprouts
• 1 cup slivered carrot
• 8 scallions , cut into 1 inch pieces
• 1 yellow bell pepper , seeded and chopped
• 1 red bell pepper , seeded and chopped
• 1 stalk lemongrass , white part only,sliced thin
• 10 Thai chiles , stemmed and split (optional)
• cooking oil
• ¼ cup chopped peanuts
• 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (coriander)

For the Sauce

• 2⁄3; cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons soy sauce
• 4 tablespoons fish sauce
• ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 2 limes, juice of

Directions:

1. Cook noodles in boiling water until tender; drain.
2. Mix ingredients for sauce in a bowl with a whisk until smooth; set aside.
3. Heat 2 tablespoons cooking oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat (add more oil as necessary during cooking).
4. Add lemongrass and Thai chiles and cook until fragrant.
5. Add carrot, scallions, and bell peppers and cook until carrot starts to become crisp-tender.
6. Add bean sprouts and cook 1-2 minutes more.
7. Add drained noodles to the pan and pour sauce over noodles.
8. Using two utensils, lift vegetables from bottom to integrate throughout noodles and mix well.
9. Garnish with chopped cilantro and chopped peanuts and serve with hot chili sauce (sriracha), if desired.
10. Cooking tip: you may cut noodles into smaller pieces after cooking with kitchen shears to make them easier to work with.

Reviews

[Brian14]

Superb! A relatively easy and authentic recipe. Some may want to decrease the peanut butter to keep it lighter though.

[*Pixie*]

We really enjoyed this, the sauce has a unique and complex flavour with a bit of bite. I haven't really been exposed to Thai food and it was fun to try something so different than what I am used to. And yes, my eyebrows were raised as I was whisking the lime juice and soya sauce into the peanut butter! We used about 5 chilies because because we didn't want to make it so spicy that my son wouldn't try it. You may want to adjust the number of servings, since this recipe makes a ton, much more than 4 servings as a side dish. Good luck in the contest!

[Daydream]

This is such an inspired recipe!! I was worried that the sauce would be too strong, but it was absolutely perfect and had an authentic Asian flavour. And it was so colourful! The Mung bean sprouts added a nice crispy touch, as did the peanuts. I used thin vermicelli - next time I will try a wider noodle (and there won't be just the one next time!). I could't get Thai chiles, so I used another type of hot red chile instead. Congratulations to the chef. This is worth far more than 5 stars.