WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
Served at room temperature or chilled, sesame noodles with crunchy vegetables make an ideal light warm-weather meal. Our choice of radishes, scallions, cucumber, and carrots both bulked up the noodles and provided peppery, oniony, sweet vegetable flavors and crunchy, juicy texture. We relied on everyday pantry staples to achieve the requisite sweet, nutty, addictive flavor of authentic-tasting sesame noodles. Chunky peanut butter and toasted sesame seeds, ground together in the blender, made the perfect stand-in for hard-to-find Asian sesame paste. Garlic, ginger, soy sauce, rice vinegar, hot sauce, and brown sugar rounded out the flavors of the sauce, and thinning it with hot water achieved the best texture for coating the noodles without being gloppy. To avoid the pitfalls of most sesame noodle recipes—gummy noodles and bland, pasty sauce—we rinsed the cooked noodles to rid them of excess starch. Tossing them with sesame oil separately, before adding the sauce, also helped keep the noodles from absorbing too much sauce and becoming pasty. We like conventional chunky peanut butter here; it tends to be sweeter than natural or old-fashioned versions. If you cannot find fresh Chinese egg noodles, substitute 12 ounces dried spaghetti or linguine.
SERVES: 4 to 6
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS:
SAUCE
- 5 tablespoons soy sauce
- ¼ cup chunky peanut butter
- 3 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 teaspoon hot sauce
- ½ cup hot water
NOODLES AND VEGETABLES
- 1 pound fresh Chinese noodles
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 5 radishes, trimmed, halved, and sliced thin
- 4 scallions, sliced thin on bias
- 1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and sliced thin
- 1 carrot, peeled and grated
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
INSTRUCTIONS:
- FOR THE SAUCE:
- Process all ingredients except water in blender until smooth, about 30 seconds.
- With blender running, add hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until sauce has consistency of heavy cream (you may not need all of water).
- FOR THE NOODLES AND VEGETABLES:
- Meanwhile, bring 4 quarts water to boil in large pot.
- Add noodles and cook, stirring often, until tender.
- Drain noodles, rinse with cold water, and drain again, leaving noodles slightly wet.
- Transfer noodles to large bowl and toss with oil.
- Add radishes, scallions, cucumber, carrot, cilantro, and sauce and toss to combine.
- Sprinkle individual portions with sesame seeds before serving
