I love making and eating stir fry veggie dishes, but sometimes I just don’t want all of that oil. Not only is this recipe ready in 20 minutes, but it’s so easy because everything is made in the same pot.
Instead of peanut or almond butter, I used tahini as the base for the sauce. Usually I think of tahini (which is just ground sesame seeds) as something to be used in Middle Eastern dishes. But Asian recipes use a lot sesame seeds and oil, so why not use it here? Lots of ginger and garlic – and some Thai chili pepper for heat – gives the sauce plenty of Asian flair. I like to keep ginger in the freezer and then finely grate it, with the skin on, using a microplane. It kind of melts when you pick it up and turns into a paste.
Between the brown rice noodles and the thick, luscious sauce, this dish is a bit of a gut bomb so plan on taking a nap after downing a big bowl of this Asian awesomeness!
Ingredients (serves 6)
8-ounce package of brown rice noodles (I used Pad Thai style noodles)
1 package tofu – drained and cut into small cubes
1 red bell pepper – cut into thin strips
2 medium carrots – thinly sliced
6 green onions – cut into 1 inch-long pieces
2 cups snow peas
1 cup sweet peas (fresh or frozen and thawed)
cilantro and lime wedges – for garnish
Sauce Ingredients
1/2 cup tahini
2 tablespoons soy sauce or liquid amino acids
3 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons fresh ginger grated into a paste (I used a microplane)
1 cup brown rice vinegar
1 Thai chili pepper – thinly sliced (remove seeds for less heat)
Directions
- Bring 3 quarts of salted water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for 1 minute.
- Add the red bell pepper, carrots, snow peas and sweet peas to the noodles and cook for 3 – 4 minutes until noodles are fully cooked.
- In a small bowl, combine all sauce ingredients.
- After noodles are cooked, remove pot from the burner and add in the tofu and green onions. Let stand for 1 minute, then drain off the water, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water in the pot.
- Pour sauce over the noodles and vegetables and stir until noodles are well coated. I find stirring with a spatula works best. If sauce it too thick and noodles stick together, add more water to achieve a consistency that allowed the noodles to be mixed easily.
- Serve hot or cold, garnished with cilantro and lime wedges.
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