Nutty Noodle Salad
The cold noodle salad of your heat wave dreams.
by Erin Henderson
Sesame noodles are Chinese. Peanut noodles are Thai. And so, I suppose that makes this hybrid-noodle dish Canadian. Like most of us hybrids with origin stories of somewhere else.
I’ve been making a very North American version of peanut noodles since I was in my university days – I think I first spied a version of the recipe in Self magazine, boasting its high-protein content, inexpensive ingredients, and quick cooking as a boon for busy vegetarians, barely-scraping-by students, and Meat Free Monday disciples. I was all three, so the recipe was a culinary win. And still is, TBH.
Related: Ciceri e Tria
As cooking – and people – evolve, I've adapted and edited and tweeked that original recipe, as my culinary acumen increased. I took a six-week Thai cooking course where I learned authentic pork satay. The peanut sauce, much like everything we learned, was so deeply flavoured, I was tempted to have it as a smoothie.
Now that I have a fully stocked pantry of enticing Thai ingredients, I worked in a few to this dish, which I think have only made it better.
You can make this noodle salad day before and keep it in the fridge. Just take it out a little before serving, and drizzle with a dash more oil to loosen it up. Right before serving I top with the veggies, another drizzle of sesame oil, and try to eat it at a pace that allows me to retain my dignity. I’m not always successful.
Nutty Noodle Salad
The aim here is to serve the saucy noodles cold, as a deliciously portable meal for picnics or the neighbourhood potluck, but it’s so good I often can’t wait for it to cool, so I eat it hot, sometimes straight from the pan. This version is vegan, but if you would like to add shrimp or shredded chicken, be my guest. Or use fried tofu to keep it veggie.
Makes: about 6 cups
Chef level: easy
Ingredients:
Salad:
- 225g Vermicelli rice noodles, soaked (alternatively spaghetti noodles, cooked to the package directions.)
- 1 shallot, sliced thin
- 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 red chili pepper, sliced thin
- ¼ English cucumber, sliced into matchsticks
- 1 handful of cilantro, roughly chopped
- ½ dried radish, diced (optional, but really, really worth it if you can find it at your local Asian grocery store)
- 2 Tbsp white sesame seeds, toasted
- ½ cup peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
- Peanut dressing
How to Make It:
- Soak the vermicelli noodles in cool water for at least one hour.
- In a wide sauté pan set over med-low heat, add the oil.
- When it shimmers (about 30 seconds) remove the noodles from the water (they will still be a bit hard) and place in the hot pan.
- Immediately pour in a few ladles of peanut sauce, stirring constantly to soften and cook the noodles and prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
- Add more sauce, a little at a time, as and if needed.
- Pour cooked noodles into a bowl, drizzle with a bit more sesame or chili oil and top with peanuts, sesame seeds, the vegetables and cilantro.
- Serve cool or room temperature.
Dressing:
Ingredients:
- 1 Tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp garlic paste
- 2 tsp ginger paste
- 3 Tbsp soy sauce
- The juice of 1 lime
- 1 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Chinese chili-garlic sauce
- ¼ cup smooth peanut butter
- ½ cup water, divided
- 2 tsp chili oil, optional
How to Make It:
- Into a small saucepan set over medium-low heat add 1Tbsp oil. When warm, add the garlic and ginger pastes, stirring for 30 seconds until fragrant.
- Add in soy sauce, lime juice, vinegar, and chili sauce stirring to incorporate.
- Add in the peanut butter and stir with a whisk for it to melt and start to combine (it will look a bit stringy or chunky.)
- Gently pour in half the water, whisking to make the sauce smooth and combined. (You want it about the consistency of ranch dressing.)
- Turn off the heat.
- Add more water a little at a time, as needed, to thin out if the sauce sits too long and begins to thicken
Wine Pairing:
Riesling is a great match here. The naturally high acid in Riesling helps freshen the richness of the peanut sauce, while the wine's sweet fruit flavours compliment the salty notes in the salad.