Chilled-Out Peanut Noodle Salad

This is a huge hit for summer picnics and makes a super portable lunch that holds up for a couple days in the fridge. The recipe is very forgiving, you can use any vegetables you like, and take out anything you don’t love. In the winter, I put the same sauce over warm noodles and snow peas for a cold weather warmer. Very versatile! The proportions for the sauce can be wiggled, to be honest I usually eyeball it and tweak the amounts to taste… remember you want the flavor of the sauce to be STRONG, because its going to mellow out when it gets smothered all over the salad. For the Sauce: 1 clove garlic 1” cube ginger 3 tbs sesame oil 3 tbs soy sauce 3 tbs rice wine vinegar juice of 1 lime 1/3 cup water 1/3 cup peanut butter For the Salad: 9 oz package of soba noodles (or you can use regular spagetti/linguini) 1/4 purple cabbage sliced into thin strips 1 red bell pepper 1 large carrot, grated 1 handful of mung bean sprouts 1 package firm tofu, cubed 1 package frozen edamame, thawed 3 scallions, sliced on the bias (diagonally) Optional Garnish: CilantroLime Juice

Instructions:

1. Place all of the ingredients for the sauce in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth. Add more water if the sauce is still sticking together, you want the sauce to be liquid enough to pour and mix.

2. While you wash and prep your veggies, put a pot of water on to boil. Following the instructions on the pasta package, cook the pasta. When the pasta is done, drain, and since with cold water (I like to also toss it with one hand to keep the noodles from sticking together) until cool to the touch.

3. Toss noodles and cut vegetables together, toss the peanut into salad until evenly coated.

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-Illustration by Beth Sworobuk

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