More noodley goodness: Orange & Ginger Soba Noodles

I found this recipe a while back, on my first visit to the beautiful vegetarian Indian food blog, Saffron Trail. And despite never having tasted it, I got a real craving for it a couple of days ago!

It's basically a noodle dish with a nice bit of steamed veg... and a gorgeous orangey, gingery, peanut butter dressing! Yum. I mixed the dressing up, and I could have probably eaten the lot of it with a spoon! (Peanut butter soup!!) I think this dressing would go amazingly well as a dipping sauce for chicken too.

While the original recipe calls for smooth peanut butter, I only had crunchy at home. While I probably will try it with smooth when I get a chance, I really liked the extra texture that the crunchy peanut butter added.

This is a great dish, quick and relatively healthy. I made up a batch in the evening and had it for dinner, then took the leftovers to work the next day. You must do this!!! It was even better on day 2!

Anyway, happy Friday everyone! Long weekend for me due to a public holiday... to celebrate I'm heading up to Notting Hill Carnival! Cross your fingers for some sun!

Orange & Ginger Soba Noodles

Serves 4...

• 3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
• 2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 3 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• Juice and zest of one orange
• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 250g soba noodles
• 6 Runner beans, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 3 carrots, ribboned

Prepare the Dressing...
Whisk together all the ingredients except the noodles and veg - taste and adjust seasoning or acidity - I added a dash more orange juice and another dash of soy. Set aside.

Prepare the Noodles...
Cook noodles according to packet - probably 5/6 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Prepare the Veg...
We want these to be super lightly steamed - the crunch of the carrot ribbons go so well with the silky noodles! So maybe 3 minutes for the beans, and just a couple of minutes for the carrots.

Chuck it All Together!
If you want to eat this warm, heat the noodles by pouring boiling water over them. Mix together the veg and noodles; give the dressing a last whisk, then pour it over the top.

Mix through so that all the noodles are coated in the dressing.

If you fancy a faff, decorate with some raw carrot ribbons and orange segments. Or not!

Either way, tuck in, slurp it up, and wonder why you've never tasted gingery orange peanut butter before... Enjoy!

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Another Friday trio!

This week I'm going to send this over to Ruth at Once Upon a Feast for Presto Pasta Night! Though I think I'm early - at time of writing the last round up hadn't even been posted!

Its near the end of the month, so a cheap dinner is even more appreciated than usual. And that's why I'm going to send this to Frugal Fridays! Even taking into account that I used posh organic soba... this would feed 4 for about £4 - or ~ $8!

And finally, this is my second submission to Ruth's Bookmarked Recipes event. Check out the round up on Monday!

Hot Pork and Shrimp Glass Noodles

This dish is based on one I had at a work BBQ a few weeks ago. Made by a lovely Thai woman and served cold as a salad, it was my favourite food of the day! I have tried to recreate it here - but I think I am still missing something... if I see her again, I'll be sure to get a full recipe!

Don't get me wrong, it was still really tasty... it just wasn't exactly the same. And I can't figure out quite what I need to change... But I'm sure I'll have fun trying to work it out!

Advance notice - I'll be getting Scottish Scran 3 out to you any day now... I'll give you a clue... it's a trooty affair!

Hot Pork and Shrimp Glass Noodles

Prepare the Dressing...

• Juice of 2 lemons
• 4 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tsp maggi sauce (or dark soy if you can't get maggi!)
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 tbsp rice wine
• Soy sauce to taste
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sugar

Mix all the ingredients together and whisk well to combine. Set aside in the fridge until the other ingredients are ready... but make sure you whisk again before using!

And the Rest...!

• 300g bean vermicelli
• 150g raw shrimp, peeled, cleaned and butterflied
• 300g ground pork
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1" ginger, finely grated
• 1/2 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 1 small handful peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• 1 tsp of toasted sesame oil
• 3 spring onions (scallions!), finely shredded
• Handful cilantro, roughly chopped
  

Prepare the Noodles...
Boil some water on the stove. Cook the noodles in the water for 4 minutes, or according to the packet - do not overcook or they will fall to pieces later!

Once cooked, run them under cold water to stop them cooking any more and set aside.

Prepare the Base...
Heat a little oil in the bottom of your wok until it is very hot. Crumble in the pork, then stir fry for three to four minutes. Keep it moving!

Add in the ginger, garlic, sesame oil, fish sauce and dried chilli.

Once the pork is cooked add in the shrimp and continue to stir fry until the shrimp are cooked.

Serve!
Take the dressing out of the fridge and give it a wee taste. Does it need anything (a touch more chilli, sugar or salt perhaps? Or maybe it's perfect as it is!)

Place the noodles in a big bowl and pour over half of the dressing (you did remember to give it another stir right?) Use chopsticks (or a pasta server!) to give it a good mix.

Chuck the peanuts, cilantro, scallions, pork mix and the rest of the dressing on top and combine well.

Mmmmm... gotta love that porky noodle goodness!!!

Sending this over to Kitchenetta of Got No Milk who is hosting this week's Presto Pasta Night!

Quick and Easy Hot Shrimp and Edamame Udon Soup

I absolutely love making soup - and recently especially so if it contains noodles, seafood and chillies... it's more of a pasta dish than a soup really. Yet I get to feel smug that I've only had soup for dinner!

The soup below takes about 15 minutes to prepare if you have all the ingredients prepared - perfect for a healthy mid week dinner.

Its been a while since I've taken part (or at least it feels like it!) so I'm sending this over to Presto Pasta Night - hosted by the lovely Ruth at Once Upon a Feast.

Hot Shrimp and Edamame Udon Soup

Serves 2 big bowls, or four as a starter!

• 1" piece grated ginger
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp tom yum paste - eek, I cheated! You could probably use whatever paste you wanted here - or even none at all, it still has a load of flavour!
• 1 pt chicken stock
• 1 pack udon noodles
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 handfuls raw shrimp (apologies for vague quantities - I pulled them out of my box of frozen shrimp in the freezer... doesn't matter anyway - add as much or as little as you fancy! Oh, and I add mine from frozen :)
• 1 handful shelled edamame beans (see above!)
• 1/2 bell pepper, diced into large bits
• 1 small tin of coconut milk
• A couple of drop of roasted sesame oil (if you have it... gives a lovely deep flavour)
• Light soy sauce, to taste
• Lime juice, to taste
• shredded scallions, sliced thai chillies and cilantro to garnish!

Par-boil the Noodles...
I reckon this gets rid of the starchiness and gives a cleaner soup - but I haven't done a side to side comparison with the same brand of udon, so could possibly be talking out of my proverbial!
Put the noodles into a pot of boiling water and simmer for one minute - until they have just lost their brittleness. Drain and rinse under cold water.

Prepare the Base...
Heat a glug of nut oil in your hot wok and add the ginger, garlic and paste if you're using it and fry for up to a minute, until sizzling! Add the chicken stock and fish sauce and bring to the boil.

Bringing it all Together...
This bit depends a bit on the cooking time of the udon noodles, and what state the shrimp are in. My shrimp were large and frozen - so I gave them 8 minutes. The udon noodle pack recommended 7-8 minutes, so I chucked em in a couple of minutes after that. The edamame beans and pepper went in 3 minutes before the end, along with the coconut milk.

Serve!
Use a pasta server to scoop out a portion of noodles into each bowl, top with the remaining shrimp and veg, then ladle over the remaining broth.
Add a drop of sesame oil on to each.
Serve with the scallions, chillies and cilantro, soy sauce and lime juice on the side, to allow each eater to adjust to taste!

Vietnamese Crab Noodle Salad

Mmmm... I made this salad last week when I was ill with the cold - I figured I needed something with pretty strong flavours just so I could taste it! And it definitely hit the spot!!

I'm back at work now - feeling loads better. Luckily the cold didn't impact my appetite at all - even though I had days when I couldn't taste anything at all... Y'know - it's really hard to cook when you can't taste or smell!! I made a curry for my mum and dad on Thursday. I was using some new dried habenero chillies - and was really disappointed by how bland they were. Until my mum tried it... after the 2nd glass of water it became apparent that they weren't so bland after all!

But despite the cold and lack of taste, in the end I did manage to do some cooking - I just wasn't up to posting! And not being able to leave the house too much definitely helped me stick to my store cupboard challenge!

I'm sending this over to Ruth at Once Upon A Feast for Presto Pasta Night. I'm so glad you're feeling better now Ruth!

Vietnamese Crab Noodle Salad

Per person, multiply at will!

For the salad:

• rice vermicelli noodles, soaked according to packet, rinsed in cold water
• 1 scallion, shredded
• 1/2 medium carrot, grated
• 5 radishes, grated
• 1/4 cucumber, seeds removed, and chopped into chunks
• white crab meat (mine was from a tin!)
  

For the dressing:

• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 Thai red chilli, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1" piece ginger, finely grated
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp rice vinegar (optional!)
  

Garnish:

• handful of raw peanuts, roasted and roughly chopped
• rough chopped cilantro
  

To make the dressing...
Put all the ingredients in a bowl, and mix until the sugar is dissolved

Put the salad together...
Pour half of the dressing over the drained noodles and mix well. Mix the salad veg together with the remaining dressing.
Put the noodles in the serving bowl and top with the veg, then the white crab meat.

Top with the peanuts and cilantro... and enjoy!

Store Cupboard Cooking Day 23

Crispy Szechaun Duck with Pak Choi and Noodles

Crispy Szechaun Duck with Pak Choi and Noodles

I absolutely love duck, so was well chuffed to find it half price at my local supermarket. Such a treat for a dreary Tuesday night in January! If possible try to get whole peppercorns and crush just before using - the taste is miles better.

• 2 duck breast, skin on
• 1 large pak choi (or a couple of smaller ones!)
• 3/4 spring onions (scallions)
• 1 crushed clove of garlic
• 1.5 inch piece of ginger root
• 2 portions egg noodles
• sesame oil
• soy sauce
• 1 heaped tsp crushed szechaun pepper corns
• 1 tsp salt

Start by cross-scoring the duck skin at about 5 mm intervals - this allows the szechaun flavour to get right into the meat, and also makes the crispiest skin. Be careful not to cut right through the skin though - a sharp knife will help a lot!

Once this is done, dry the skin with a bit of kitchen towel, then season with the salt - rubbing it right into the scores. Then rub the crushed szechuan pepper into the skin in the same way.

Place the duck skin-side down into a cold frying pan, then turn on the heat as low as possible.

Allow to cook like this for 15 minutes, draining off fat as required. I used quite large duck breast - if yours are smaller, maybe reduce this time by 2/3 minutes.

While the duck is cooking, prepare the vegetables:

• Finely shred the spring onions on the diagonal.
• Peel and chop the ginger into thin matchsticks
• If using the big pak choi, then roughly shed (each piece about 2 inches wide) If using the baby stuff, then half or quarter it
  

Back to the duck! Once the cooking time is up, turn the heat to high and cook for 3 minutes just to finish crisping off the skin. Don't strain any fat at this point - we will be using it to prepare the rest of the dish. Reduce the heat to medium and turn over the duck breasts. Cook for 2-4 minutes - or until required 'doneness'! For the tenderest duck meat, you want it to be pretty pink in the middle. Remove duck to a plate.

Cook the egg noodles according to the packet. Once cooked, drain well and return to pan. Add 1 teaspoon each of sesame oil and soy sauce and stir to mix.

While the noodles are cooking, add a teaspoon of roasted sesame oil to the pan you cooked the duck in, follow with the garlic and ginger. Turn the heat to medium and fry for a couple of minutes.

Add the spring onions and pak choi and fry for 3 minutes until just tender. Add a teaspoon of soy (or to taste) and remove from the heat.

Time to plate up!
Move the duck breasts to a chopping board and slice on the diagonal. If there are any juices on the resting plate, pour these onto the pak choi mix.
Place a mound of noodles onto each dish. Top this with the pak choi mix, then placed the sliced duck breast on top. Drizzle any juices from the pak choi pan over the duck and if you have any lying around, garnish with coriander!