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Lunchbox Series – Peanut Sesame Noodles

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I love technology! I just love, love the fact that I now have lunchbox and recipe ideas at my fingertips, literally. Yes I am officially an app junkie!

So I was debating what to pack for Nikhil’s lunchbox last night. A quick run through the crisper gave me the following ingredients: half a head of broccoli, a quarter cut green bell pepper, some baby carrots and some scallions. Like many other app junkies, I’ve downloaded more apps on my Ipad/Iphone than I use them. Most of them were purely because I love to read the “top 10 best apps” articles on all the daily tech feeds out there…and download them just because:)

I’d read so much about the Epicurious app and hadn’t really put it to its test. So I got back 36 recipes for noodles with the ingredients. Of course it helped that Nikhil also contributed to this recipe search and added noodles to the ingredients. Basically, half the battle is having your child pick what he or she wants for lunch …did I really need an app for that? Of course I did.

We picked the first recipe…Peanut Sesame Noodles which asked for a few more ingredients from my pantry and which, thankfully I had in stock. I chopped the veggies last night and cooked the noodles and mixed the sauce this morning. I didn’t make it cold the way the recipe suggested but heated the sauce for about 1-2 minutes (not more) and garnished with lots of cilantro. Nikhil loved it..I know this already because he couldn’t stop eating it this morning and wanted it for breakfast:) Hopefully it lasts through lunchtime.

Ingredients:

For peanut dressing
  • 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 1/3 cup warm water
  • 2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
  • 1 medium garlic clove, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons Asian sesame oil (I used regular sesame oil available in Indian stores but I’m sure the Asian sesame adds to the flavor)
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1 teaspoon dried hot red pepper flakes
  • I tsp Sambal sauce or any red chili sauce (this was not in the original recipe and you could omit if you dont want to the noodles to get too spicy)
For noodles
  • 3/4 lb dried linguine fini or Haka noodles (I used Haka Instant Noodles)
  • 4 scallions, thinly sliced
  • 1 green bell pepper, cut into 1/8-inch-thick strips (you may use red or yellow bell pepper as well)
  • 2 tbsp grated carrots or julienne cut
  • 1/2 cup broccoli florets

Method:

Make dressing:
Purée dressing ingredients in a blender until smooth, about 2 minutes, then transfer to a large bowl. (You can use a blender or beat the peanut butter well until smooth, add the other ingredients and beat well with a fork or spatula, if you don’t want to pull out a blender like contraption during the morning craziness:)

Noodles:
Cook noodles in a 6- to 8-quart pot of boiling salted water until tender/al dente. Drain in a colander, then rinse well under cold water.

Heat the sesame oil in a wok. When hot, add the scallions, bell pepper, carrots and broccoli.

Toss for about 1 minute in the hot oil, and then add the peanut sauce. Mix for about another 1-2 minutes, and add the noodles. Mix well to combine.

Cool and serve/pack in the lunchbox.

I packed the noodles for Nikhil today with some salad (romaine, apples, pecans, kidney beans with raspberry vinaigrette dressing on the side)

Submitting this recipe for Healthy Lunchbox for Srivalli’s Kid’s Event .

 

Comments

  1. shammi says

    Hey, I made your peanut sesame noodles the other day for dinner, and my husband and just LOVVVVVED it! 🙂 Just thought I’d let you know!