Asian Noodle Salad

Yes, I am still here.

I cannot tell you how much I miss my blog, and all the blogs of my fellow food bloggers, when I am not able to sit down at the computer for extended periods of time! Things are going to be a little different around here for a while. Work has gotten busier, the house hunt is still on, which I'm sure will be followed by the craziness of moving. I have decided that while I still will blog, it will be less frequent. I am also going to try to visit as many blogs as possible in the midst of all this.

Thanks to all those who left me encouraging comments on my previous post. I really appreciate the comments, and all the positive wishes you all sent me! As I mentioned in that post, I do know that God has a better place in store for us, and I am not too worried about it! Now that I'm over the initial shock and the panic attack, I'm actually starting to look forward to a new environment, and I am excited about kinda setting up home all over again. My little girl will have new places to explore, and I am praying I will have a beautiful, and bigger kitchen. That's not a too much to hope for - if you knew how small my present kitchen is, you would understand. :)

Here is something I made a while ago. I had been wanting to try the popular peanut butter dressings for noodles for a long time. I combined a few recipes and added my own spin on the whole thing. On top of everything, I was feeling very pleased with myself for making the noodles from scratch using a borrowed pasta maker. I made a basic whole wheat egg pasta dough, and it was super silky, and really tasty.

Before I get into the recipe, please note that this is more a guide than a recipe. You might have to make adjustments based on your personal taste.

Asian Noodle Salad
Ingredients
250g whole wheat linguini/spaghetti/noodles, cooked al dente
1/4 cup smooth peanut butter
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp (more or less, depending on taste) hot sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup shredded vegetables (I used mostly carrots & some cabbage)
1/2 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup cook broccoli florets
1 red onion, sliced thin
3 tbsp toasted sesame seeds, plus extra for garnish.

Method
1. In large bowl, combine all the ingredients except the noodles, the shredded vegetables, the sprouts, the broccoli, the onion and the sesame seeds.
2. Mix well, and taste. Adjust seasoning, adding more soy, vinegar, hot sauce or honey as desired.
3. Reserve about 1/3 of this dressing in a small bowl.
4. Into the remaining dressing in the large bowl, stir in the noodles, sliced onion, sprouts, broccoli and shredded vegetables. Stir lightly to coat everything.
5. If desired add the reserved dressing, or just keep it aside to drizzle over the salad on each person's plate.
6. Stir in the sesame seeds, and serve garnished with more toasted sesame seeds, and the reserved dressing.

Personally, I was quite pleased with this dish, and my little girl ate it without a fuss too. My husband complained it tasted too 'vegetable-ly'! I found that a strange thing because he usually loves his vegetables. It turned out he wasn't too fond of the sprouts in there. Of course, because I can see the future, I anticipated this would happen, and made one of his favorite chicken dishes to go on the side.

For the side salad for this salad, I just sliced up some fresh tomato, and drizzled over some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and seasoned it with salt and pepper. It was a delicious and light accompaniment to the noodles. At least I thought so. My husband detests tomatoes, and so he wouldn't even try the salad. He was really grateful for the chicken on his plate. I will share the chicken recipe another time. It is a simple but really popular dish among my family and friends.

Thanks to all those of you who keep visiting even though I've been so bad at visiting your sites these last few weeks. I hope to be back in a couple of months when we've settled into our new place. Until then, I will try to post a new recipe at least once in two weeks! Thanks for being such awesome peeps! :)