Peanut noodles with cucumber and carrots
Silky noodles in a creamy, tangy peanut sauce you whisk together in the time it takes the water to boil.
- 25 min total
- 20 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 4
- About $1.61 a serving
- 450 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegan
- Gluten-free
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 25 minutes.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 8 oz rice noodles
- ⅓ cup peanut butter, creamy
- 3 tbsp gluten-free tamari
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp sesame oil
- ½ english cucumber, cut into thin sticks
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 3 stalks green onions, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup peanuts, roughly chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro (optional)
- 1 tsp sriracha (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 3 tbsp water, warm
Each serving has about 450 calories, 13 g protein, 63 g carbs and 17 g fat, and costs about $1.61 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No gluten-free tamari? Soy sauce works.
- No maple syrup? Honey works.
- No limes? Lemons work.
- No english cucumbers? Cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
- No shredded carrots? Carrots work.
- No green onions? Chives work.
- No peanuts? Cashews work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No sriracha? Hot sauce works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Fill a large pot with water and bring it over high heat.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
While it heats, cut the cucumber into thin sticks, the green onions, and the peanuts.
Thinly slice. Thinly slicing means cutting slices about an eighth of an inch thick, roughly two coins stacked. Thin slices cook in seconds and soften fast, which quick dishes need.
How you’ll know: A slice bends a little when you hold it by one edge, and slow, steady cuts beat fast ones.
Chop. Chopping means cutting food into bite-size pieces that don’t need to be neat. Keep them roughly the same size so everything cooks evenly.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are about half an inch and roughly alike, even if none of them are pretty.
In a big bowl, the peanut butter, tamari, rice vinegar, maple syrup, lime juice, garlic, ginger, sesame oil and warm water until smooth.
Whisk. Whisking means beating quickly with a whisk or a fork to blend things together. It smooths out lumps and mixes eggs, oil or sauces evenly.
How you’ll know: It all looks one even color and texture, with no streaks or lumps.
Dolly’s tip: It looks clumpy at first. Keep whisking and it turns smooth and glossy.Taste the sauce and adjust it: more tamari for salt, lime for tang, maple for sweet, sriracha for heat. Stop when you’d happily eat it off a spoon.
Dolly’s tip: Change one thing at a time and taste again. Small tweaks add up fast.Add the noodles to the water and cook as the package says, usually 6 to 8 minutes, until soft but still a little chewy.
Boil. Boiling means heating a liquid until big bubbles rise and break all over the surface. It’s the fastest way to cook pasta, potatoes and eggs, because it’s as hot as water gets.
How you’ll know: Bubbles are breaking across the whole surface, not just at the edges, and steam is rising.
High heatTimer: 7 min
Dolly’s tip: Rice noodles go from right to mushy quickly, so start tasting a minute early.the noodles and them under cold water, with your hands, until they’re cool.
Drain. Draining means pouring off liquid, like tipping pasta into a colander or spooning extra fat out of the pan. Pour hot grease into a can or jar, not the sink, where it hardens and clogs the pipes.
How you’ll know: Only a few drips are left, and the food isn’t sitting in a puddle.
Rinse. Rinsing means running cold water over rice or canned beans in a strainer while you swish them around. It washes off loose starch and can liquid, so rice cooks up fluffy and beans taste clean.
How you’ll know: The water running out goes from cloudy to mostly clear; it doesn’t have to be perfect.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Dolly’s tip: Rinsing stops the cooking and washes off the starch that glues noodles together.Add the noodles, cucumber, carrots and most of the green onions to the sauce and until every strand is coated.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Pile into bowls and top with the peanuts, the rest of the green onions and the cilantro.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
