Cold Spicy Sesame Noodles With Crisp Vegetables

I made this a couple of days ago and so far it's the best cold sesame noodles recipe I've ever made. I got this from Patricia Yeo's Cooking from A to Z cookbook. Below is the exact recipe from her book, here are my substitutions. I bought toasted sesame seeds, so the first step can be skipped. I didn't have peanut oil, so I just used vegetable oil and it tasted fine. I will try it with peanut oil next time, though. I used grated carrots and cucumbers instead of snow peas, red bell pepper and daikon radish because those two vegetable are what I normally put in this type of dish and it's easier! I also used dry Chinese egg noodles instead of fresh.

• Ready In: 45 mins
• Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

• For the dressing

• 3⁄4 cup  plus 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
• 7  tablespoons  peanut oil
•  2 large shallot, sliced
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 1  tablespoon  dark sesame oil
• 2  tablespoons soy sauce (to taste)
• 1⁄4 cup  rice wine vinegar
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1  teaspoon sambal oelek

• For the noodles

• 12 -16  ounces  fresh  Chinese egg noodles, thin fresh pasta or 12 -16  ounces  long thin  fresh pasta
• 3  tablespoons  peanut oil
• 2  tablespoons  chopped cilantro
• 1  cup snow peas, blanched in boiling water and thinly sliced
• 1  small red bell pepper, seeded and thinly sliced
• 1  cup  thinly sliced daikon radishes or 1  cup cucumber
• 1  cup  whole cilantro leaf
• 1⁄2 cup  chopped peanuts
• 1  cup  thinly sliced scallion, cut on the diagonal into long ovals

Directions

1. Up to 2 days before you plan to serve, make the dressing:
2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread the sesame seeds out on a baking sheet and toast until fragrant, about 15 to 20 minutes, stirring once. Immediately remove the seeds from the baking sheet (they can burn very quickly). When cool, transfer to a blender.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon peanut oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Let cool slightly and add to the sesame seeds in the blender.
4. Add the remaining 6 tablespoons peanut oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and sambal oelek, and blend at high speed just until a thick paste forms. Stop blending as soon as most of the seeds have broken up; over processing will pulverize all the seeds and make the sauce too oily. (The recipe can be made up to this point and kept refrigerated up to 2 days.).
5. The same day you plan to serve, make the noodles: Bring a large pot of unsalted water to a boil. Gently separate the noodles with your hands and add to the water. Cook until tender (after the water returns to a boil, it will take anywhere from 10 seconds for very thin Chinese noodles to 3 minutes for Italian pasta). Drain the noodles and cool them under cold running water. Drain well. Transfer the cold noodles to a large bowl and toss with the peanut oil.
6. When ready to serve, remove the dressing from the refrigerator and drain off any oil that has collected on the top. Whisk in about 3/4 cup water to thin the dressing and make it creamy; whisk in more a little at a time as needed. Taste for soy sauce, adding more if needed. Whisk in the chopped cilantro. Pour about half of the dressing over the noodles. Add the snow peas, red pepper, and daikon, and toss well to combine (using your hands is easiest). Add the rest of the dressing and finish tossing. Transfer to a large serving bowl or individual plates, garnish with the cilantro leave, peanuts, and scallions, and serve immediately.