Peanut Noodles w/ Chicken & Veggies

I love spicy peanut sauce. I just came across a new recipe and gave it a try this weekend. I think it turned out pretty well. It was especially helpful that I could get the mint and the basil that the recipe called for from the yard. I ended up using about half spicy, purple basil (from the garden basil head) and half regular green basil.

The dressing is pretty simple because it just entails just popping all of the components into a food processor or blender and uh, processing or blending. Cooking the pasta or noodles is pretty straight forward, as is preparing the chicken. Some chopped (okay, okay julienned veggies join in and voilà — it’s done!

Peanut Noodles w/ Chicken & Vegetables
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
1 serrano chile, de-stemmed and seeded, chopped roughly (or, start with a 1/4 tsp of red pepper flakes and adjust from there if you don’t have fresh chiles on hand, you could also use Asian chili garlic sauce too)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup basil leaves
1/4 cup mint leaves
Salt and black pepper to taste

1 package Asian-style egg noodles (or spaghetti will work fine as well)
1 English cucumber, peeled and julienned into small strips
1 orange bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
1 bunch chopped scallions (I used kitchen scissors and snipped the green onions on an angle)
2 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1 lb or so chicken breasts, sliced into small pieces and sautéed until cooked through (I marinated the raw chicken first in some ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil for about an hour before cooking)

Garnish: Sesame seeds, more mint & basil leaves

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Cook chicken and set aside.

In a food processor (or blender), mix peanut butter, oils, and vinegar. Add chile, garlic and herbs and puree until smooth and creamy.

Cook the pasta and drain. I usually sprinkle a little sesame oil on the hot noodles to keep them from bunching up before I combine everything.

In a large bowl toss the noodles, chicken, veggies and sauce together. Check for seasoning and garnish with sesame seeds and extra basil/mint leaves.

I served this at room temperature but it would also be good cold (or warm, in colder weather).

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Alternately, here is another peanut sauce recipe that I like a lot too. It’s not quite as creamy as the preceding one and has more of a sharper, saltier, soy saucy taste.

Peanut Sauce II
1 (1-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
3 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tsp red chili sauce (I use the chili-garlic variety)
1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
6 tbsp water

In a blender of food processor, add all ingredients and process until smooth. That’s it.