Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad Recipe
March 30, 2008 | by Heidi | Filed under Main Courses, Salad Recipes, Sides, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Recipes
When the San Francisco skies are clear, bright, and blue I like to pop into Green's Restaurant where in addition to table service, they have a robust take-out menu. I usually grab a tofu sandwich on seeded bread, a side of their famous black bean chili and then walk the short distance to a nearby picnic bench where I enjoy the sailboats, seagulls, and sunshine. As I was reaching for my sandwich the other day I noticed a stack of containers packed with peanut-slathered noodles - inspiration strikes. It has been ages since I've had a good peanut noodle salad, so I decided to throw one together today for my lunch. I couldn't be bothered to walk to the store for ingredients (hence the lazy title), so I tapped my pantry for inspiration. In the end I had myself a perfect, colorful bowl of peanut-slathered soba noodles punctuated with spring onions, tofu, more peanuts, and asparagus.
This makes a big chunky batch of peanut noodle salad. Serve it up family-style on a platter at a potluck, party, or buffet - it holds up perfectly at room temp. I'm taking the leftovers with me on a flight tomorrow. :)
Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad Recipe
I used asparagus in this version, but you can use any of your favorite in-season vegetables. This time of year peas, asparagus, and carrots all make great additions to the noodles and peanut sauce.
1 8 ounce package soba noodles
1 bunch asparagus spears, ends trimmed then cut into 1/2-inch segements3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup (brown) rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
drizzle of toasted sesame oil
big pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4-1/2 cup hot water1 small bunch of spring onions or scallions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup peanuts
12 ounces extra-firm (organic) tofu, cut into small cubes (feel free to heat the tofu in a skillet if you like, but cold is good too)
Big a large pot of water to a boil. Boil the soba noodles per package instructions.In the last minute or so of cooking toss in the asparagus. Drain noodles and asparagus, run under cold water for about a minute to stop cooking, and set aside.
Make the peanut dressing by combining the peanut butter, rice vinegar, garlic, sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and a big pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Thin with hot water - the amount you'll need depends on the original consistency of your peanut butter. I like it the consistency of a thin (non-Greek) yogurt. Taste and season with a bit more salt if needed.
Gently toss the noodles, asparagus, spring onions, peanuts, and tofu with a big splash of the dressing. I reserve a bit of each ingredient to sprinkle on top of the serving platter to make it look nice. Add more dressing a bit at a time, until the salad is dressed to your liking, reserving any extra for another use. Taste, sprinkle with more salt if needed, and enjoy!
Serves 6 - 8.
Never miss a recipe!
Enter your email address to subscribe to 101 Cookbooks via email:
Your Comments
This looks perfect for the first springtime lunches of the season!
Yum! Now that's my kind of airplane food. Your seatmates will be jealous.
Yum! I like my peanut soba salad with crunchy peanut butter, although your 1/2 cup of peanuts probably equalized that. Where does one find brown rice vinegar?
I love how you make everything look so effort-less. Like "oh i just threw this together"
Amazing!
Teddy
oh I know that restaurant :-) it's a Fort Manson, isn't it?
Great salad combinations.
The peanut butter and noodle combo hasn't exactly hit Scandinavia yet... Honestly, I must admit I've never heard about it before. But as it is reather rainy here these days, I don't think this will hit the menu chez moi just now, but I'll keep it in mind for when our regional asparagus begin to hit the markets.
Looks good! I love noodle dishes and am always on the lookout for new ones. I wonder whether this would be nice with munchy seeds instead of peanuts.... I think I'd have to adapt this a bit, as I don't care for tofu, but maybe quartered hard-boiled eggs instead? Next Saturday's lunch is beginning to take shape...
Thanks for the reminder about peanut-sesame noodles. I've been meaning to make these for a while. Also good with sprinkled sesame seeds (black ones look cooler if you can find them) either instead of or in addition to the chopped peanuts. If a non-veg is anti-tofu you could substitute grilled or broiled chicken or maybe even green soybeans. Someone also recently wrote on another post that soba noodles are a complete protein so you don't even need an additional one. Like Heidi said, this is also great with julienned or shredded carrots and I think this is an any-time-of year dish because it can be eaten cold or warm. If you have it, cilantro makes a good garnish, too. OK, that's enough.
I'd like to be in San Francisco right now... These recipe looks so refreshing. We have wonderful asparagus at the market now so I will be making it!
This looks fabulous! I love peanut dishes; can't wait to try.
Feels like spring time....
Tasty and delicious, It won't take long till I try!