Rice noodles are another staple in my pantry. They’re really easy to prepare (just soak them in boiled water) and are delicious with chopped vegetables and a simple creamy dressing. It’s great to have a versatile dish in your back pocket that you know you can whip up in 20-30 minutes. For protein, you could do tofu, canned tuna or salmon, fish, or, as always, a sunny-side up fried egg. Experimenting with different dressings also keeps it interesting, so you can have the foundation of the dish down (noodles+protein+veg+dressing) and still feel like you’re eating something new every time you make it. The peanut dressing is a go-to for me, and it’s as simple as mixing soy sauce, peanut butter, and maple syrup. You could also use almond butter or tahini instead of peanut butter. If you don’t have maple syrup, you could also use honey or brown sugar. This is a tried and true salty-sweet combo, that also has fat from the peanut butter to make it creamy and filling.
I really like to keep a few vegetables I can eat raw for dishes like this so there’s no cooking required! Lettuce, thinly sliced radishes and beets, sprouts, brussels sprouts (also is anyone else shocked that it’s brusselS sprouts and not brussel sprouts??), or really any vegetable thinly sliced or finely chopped is good raw, as long as you have a good dressing to go with it.
Additional ingredients like fish sauce and lime juice also work really well here. If you haven’t cooked with fish sauce at home (you’ve definitely had it in dishes from a Thai restaurant) then I would highlyyy recommend picking up a bottle. I’ve found it at most grocery stores like Giant/Stop and Shop. It smells a little funky right out of the bottle, but just a few drops add a ton of flavor. The key to a delicious dressing is just finding a balance of saltiness, sweetness, acidity, and fat. Lime juice and rice vinegar are both great sources of acid for this. You could also had sriracha, hot sauce, or chili flakes to make it a spicy peanut dressing. As you mix the dressing, just keep tasting it and adjusting it until you like the way it tastes.
Ingredients
- rice noodles
- vegetables
- tofu (or protein of choice)
- peanut butter (2 tablespoons)
- soy sauce (1 tablespoon)
- maple syrup (1 teaspoon, sub honey or brown sugar)
- optional: dash of fish sauce, lime juice, sesame oil, sriracha, hot sauce
Do it
- Boil a pot of water. Take water off heat and soak rice noodles in a heat-safe bowl for 10 minutes or until softened.
- Heat a pan with oil. Fry tofu for around 4 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
- Thinly slice vegetables and place them in a large mixing bowl.
- Prepare the dressing. Mix peanut butter and soy sauce in a small bowl. Add a splash of water, about a teaspoon at a time, until creamy. Add additional ingredients to the dressing (fish sauce, lime juice, sriracha) if using. Taste the dressing and adjust salt, sweet, and acidic components until it tastes good.
- Mix everything together in the big mixing bowl until everything is covered by the dressing. Transfer to a regular bowl and eat!
Leave a Reply