Spicy Asian Noodles

January 22nd, 2012 | Cluck cluck, Family Dinner, Salads | 0 Comments

I love Asian food.... Thai especially, but I could live off of Chinese food, Japanese food, Korean food--you name it--if it's enhanced with soy sauce I will love it! My husband, on the other hand does not like Asian food of any kind. When we were courting, he used to take me to sushi once a week and we'd get Chinese take-out or Thai take-out once a week as well. Soon after the I-do's, that was over. He pulled a bait and switch on me--there's no doubt about it--but its too late to do anything about it now {except complain a lot}. Now I have to either go have my favorite foods with my gals or grab my own take-out when he's out of town.

The only time I can get away with feeding him Asian food is if I make it at home and don't tell him what we're having for dinner until he's already walked in the door {and too tired to go out and fend for himself} and I have really had a hankering for some spicy, peanutty, soy-ish noodles, so I decided to make some the other night. They were just what I was looking for! Now, I know the list of ingredients is lenghthy here, so if you are missing something, I say skip it--the noodles will still be good. If you have trouble finding tahini (sesame seed paste), then use extra peanut butter in its place. If you can't find chili garlic sauce, substitute a couple of cloves of chopped fresh garlic and 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes. If you don't have seasoned rice vinegar, use unseasoned rice vinegar or rice wine vinegar if you have it. If you don't have sriracha chili sauce--FIND it--it should be readily available in the Asian aisle at your grocer.

Ingredients:

1 lb spaghetti noodles
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon sesame oil, divided
2 cups cooked chicken, chopped {store bought rotisserie chicken is great for this}
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
3 green onions, stems only, sliced thin
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
3 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons tahini
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 teaspoons sherry
1 1/2 teaspoons seasoned rice vinegar
2 tablespoons garlic chili sauce
1 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger

sriracha chili sauce {for an extra kick}

Directions:

Cook pasta noodles according to package directions. Drain noodles and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the sesame oil. Toss noodles to coat with the oil and then chill noodles, covered, in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.

In a medium bowl, combine peanut butter, tahini, orange juice, soy, honey, 1 teaspoon sesame oil, sherry, rice vinegar, and garlic chili sauce. Mix well and set aside.

Once noodles have been chilled, transfer to a large bowl and toss with cooked chicken, bell peppers, green onions, ginger and cilantro.

Drizzle the peanut sauce over the noodles and toss until well combined. Serve with Sriracha chili sauce drizzled over the top if you like a little extra spice!

I have to say that I liked this dish a lot before adding the sriracha chili sauce, but once I added it, I couldn't get enough--it made all of the other flavors go Boom Boom Pow! This salad is best served at room temperature.