Cold Spiced Peanut Sesame Noodles with Peanut Chile Sauce

Chewy, fresh Asian wheat noodles tossed with creamy, tangy, peanuty sauce. Crave worthy.

If there’s one dish that I crave almost weekly, it’s Cold Spiced Peanut Sesame Noodles with Peanut Chile Sauce.

I make a batch and eat it for lunch two or three days in a row. The craving subsides for a week or two, and then the whole ritual repeats itself.

I love chewy, fresh Asian wheat noodles. And I love this creamy, rich, tangy, flavor-packed sauce, which I’ve perfected over many years of tinkering. Together they’re heavenly.

Which begs the question of why I haven’t shared this dish with you until now. Maybe because I extolled the virtues of Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce earlier, and the two sauces sound similar.

They do both utilize peanut butter as the base flavor note, but from there take quite different directions. Nevertheless, if you love this sauce, you’ll love the other as well.

Cold Spiced Peanut Sesame Noodles with Peanut Chile Sauce

This is my go-to dish in the summer, especially when temperatures soar in Portland, and I can’t bear to turn on the oven or linger over a hot stove for more than a few minutes. When that’s the case, I often boil and drain the noodles in the cool of the evening, toss them with a little sesame oil, and fridge them for the next day.

Ingredient Note   In Portland, Oregon after much searching, I found Shao Xing Chinese rice wine at Fubonn Market. Most Asian markets carry Shao Xing COOKING wine, but don’t use that. Dry sherry is a worthy substitute.

Ingredient Note   Yes, you can omit the tamarind paste if you don’t have it on hand, but do grab it the next time you are at an Asian, Indian, or Mexican market. It adds a very unique and desirable acidic hit to many sauces and keeps forever in the fridge.

Noodles
1 pound fresh, wide Asian wheat noodles (cooked weight: 31 ounces; cooked volume: 8 cups)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

Peanut Chile Sauce (makes 2 cups)
½ cup creamy-style natural peanut butter
½ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup Shao Xing Chinese rice wine, or dry sherry (NOT Shao Xing COOKING wine)
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup Kikkoman regular soy sauce
¼ cup water, plus a little more if needed later
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon Korean chile paste (or more to taste)
1 tablespoon tamarind paste, optional
1 tablespoon peeled, minced or pressed garlic
1 tablespoon peeled, minced fresh ginger

Embellishment
lime wedges

Additional Embellishments, Optional (use as many and as much as you like)
thinly sliced green onion
finely shredded red cabbage
julienned seedless cucumber (small Persian or English)
julienne carrot
julienne barbecue pork
soy bean sprouts
micro greens
roasted, skinned, lightly salted peanuts
regular or black sesame seeds

1. To prepare the noodles, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
2. Add noodles, and cook until barely tender, about 3 minutes; drain in a colander, rinse with cold water, and drain again. (If substituting dried noodles, cook according to package directions)
3. Transfer to a large mixing bowl, and add 2 tablespoons sesame oil; toss until evenly coated, and set aside.
4. To make the sauce, in a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, rice vinegar, rice wine, brown sugar, soy sauce, water, sesame oil, chile paste, tamarind paste, garlic, and ginger.
5. Pour only 1 cup sauce over noodles, and toss to combine. Add a little more sauce or a little water if the noodles absorb all the sauce and become sticky.
6. To serve, arrange on a serving platter.
7. Garnish with lime wedges and as many additional embellishments as desired.
8. Serve with remaining sauce.

Serves 4-6.

More LunaCafe Asian-Inspired Recipes

• Almost Luc Lac Vietnamese Dipping Sauce
• Asian Pancakes (Beijing Pancakes)
• Asian Potsticker Dough (for Jiaozi & Gyoza Dumplings)
• Asian Tacos with Prawn & Shiitake Filling & Cabbage Slaw
• Chinese Cracker Jacks
• Chinese Good Fortune Cookies
• Golden Fried Garlic Sesame Noodles
• Home-Style Chinese Fried Rice
• Phat Thai (Stir-Fried Rice Noodles with Tamarind Sauce, Peanuts & Lime)
• Pok Pok’s World Famous Vietnamese Chicken Wings
• Pork & Prawn Potstickers (aka Asian Dumplings)
• Spicy Korean Noodle Soup (Jjambbong)
• Spicy Pork Wonton Soup
• Spicy Thai Peanut Sauce
• Spicy Vietnamese Dipping Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
• Thai Red Curry Paste
• Thai Red Curry Soup
• Vietnamese Chicken Salad
• Vietnamese Crispy Crepes (Banh Xeo)

Copyright 2015 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.