Thai Noodles with Peanut Sauce

This is one of my favorite dishes. I think the cabbage makes it. It's quite versatile; you can add any steamed or grilled vegetable, meat, poultry or seafood you like. It's a great choice if you have to cook for both vegetarians and non vegetarians at the same time ... make the dish as is, add some steamed vegetables on top of the noodle before pouring on the sacue, grill some marinated meat, poultry, etc. on place that over the sauce for non-vegetarian servings. I very often make it with dried herbs if I don't have the fresh on-hand, and it's still wonderful. Since coconut milk usually comes in 15 ounce cans, I'll use the whole can and double all the other ingredients except the pasta and vegetables. Then I'll use the sauce on other things. You can even use it as a salad dressing. The time includes all the cooking, but if you decide to just make the sauce itself, that takes almost no work and very little time,less than 10 minutes. I got the recipe at a site called The Internet Chef.

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 3  cups  chopped cabbage
• 1  medium onion, chopped
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons  oil
• 9  ounces pasta (bowties, shells, spaghetti)
• 1⁄4 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1  tablespoon fresh lime juice
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce (see notes)
• 1⁄4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or 1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1⁄2 teaspoon curry powder
• 1⁄8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1  clove garlic, minced
• 7  ounces coconut milk
• 1  tablespoon  finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  teaspoon  finely chopped fresh basil
•  chopped roasted peanuts (optional, for garnish)

Directions

1. Saute cabbage& onion in oil until just softened.
2. Set aside in large bowl.
3. Cook pasta until al dente.
4. While pasta cooks, mix next 9 ingredients in a saucepan.
5. Heat gently, adding coconut milk gradually.
6. Do not boil.
7. Mix cooked pasta with sauce& veggies.
8. Mix in cilantro and basil.
9. Serve immediately, topped with chopped roasted peanuts if desired.
10. NOTES: You can use Thai fish sauce if you prefer instead of the worcestershire.
11. You can also substitute hot sauce for the red pepper flakes.