The captious vegetarian

I love the cold sesame noodles at China Palace in Pittsburgh. This isn’t quite the same, but it’s rich and salty and complex all the same. Based on a recipe from Madhur Jeffrey’s World of the East.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, about 4 quarts of water.  Meanwhile, prepare the broccoli and sauce. Chop

• two small heads of broccoli, stems sliced thinly and tops broken into small florets (about 1 lb 8 oz. broccoli in total–after trimming any woody stems–usually around 7 cups of florets and 2 cups of stems)

In a large serving bowl, mix together with a fork until you have a smooth paste:

• 3/8 tsp kosher salt (if you have fine salt use only a 1/4 tsp.)
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1/8 tsp cayenne
• 1.5 tsp sugar
• 1 Tbs neutral-tasting oil or peanut oil (use the spoon you’ll use for the tahini to measure this)
• 1.5 tsp. toasted sesame oil (try leaving this out and instead drizzling it over the noodles)
• 3 Tbs. tahini (using the spoon you used to measure the oil)
• 2 Tbs. soy sauce
• 2 tsp. rice wine vinegar

When the water comes to a boil, salt the water (add 2-3 tsp salt), then add the broccoli stems, the broccoli florets, and then:

• 1/2 lb. soba noodles, udon noodles, spaghetti, or Chinese egg noodles (try with 9 or 10 ounces)

Actually, the order will depend on how long the noodles need to cook.  My soba noodles are very thin and only take about 3 or 4 minutes to cook, so I add the broccoli first.  I let the broccoli stems cook for 1 minute, the broccoli florets cook for another 2 minutes and then add the noodles.  However, if your noodles take more than five or six minutes to cook you’ll want to add the noodles first.  The broccoli should take a total of about 4 to 6 minutes to cook, including the time with the noodles.

While the noodles cook, roast in a small skillet:

• 2 Tbs. sesame seeds (white, hulled seeds crisp up and look prettier than beige, unhulled sesame seeds, but both taste good)

When the noodles and broccoli are cooked, drain them and if using soba or udon noodles rinse under cold running water to release the extra starch, then add them to the bowl with the sauce.  Sprinkle on top:

• 2 Tbs roasted sesame seeds
• 2 tsp. toasted sesame oil

Serve warm.

This dish has quite a lot of broccoli, and sauce too.  It’s oily and quite salty, and filling.  There’s a mild but noticeable heat from the cayenne. Derek loves this recipe, and asks for it at least once a week.  I enjoy it as well, although I prefer to make it into more of a salad by adding lots of  raw veggies (partly because the noodles as Derek prefers them are quite salty).  I usually julienne about 4 cups of raw vegetables.  I like cucumber, carrots, red and yellow bell pepper, radishes, jicama, bean sprouts, scallions, kohlrabi, etc.  I usually keep the raw veggies separate from the noodles and broccoli so that Derek and I can mix in our preferred proportion of raw veggies.  Last time I made this I served it with cucumbers that had been marinating in a sweet, vinegary dressing, and Derek really liked the combination, much more than plain julienned cucumbers.

I would say that this recipe makes 4 generous servings, which should be enough for dinner for four people, but people always seem to want seconds.  So realistically I would say that by itself this recipe serves three, and if you serve it with a lot of raw vegetables and some browned tofu cubes then it serves four people for dinner.  Usually I just make this recipe for Derek and I, and we split the leftovers into two small lunches or I give it as a big lunch to Derek.  Leftovers from this recipe make a nice lunch the next day (hot or cold). I never have any difficulty getting rid of the leftovers!

This recipe would make a nice potluck dish, except that it looks like… weird congealed slop.  Rinsing the noodles before adding them to the sauce would probably help with the appearance. (I often forget this step.)  Another idea is to not mix the noodles with the sauce, but pour the sauce on top of the noodles and let people mix it themselves?

The sauce is also tasty on cauliflower and other vegetables.

Rating: B
Derek: A-

Update August 2007: I recently tried the cold peanut noodles in Vegan with a Vengeance. It calls for udon noodles, seitan, black sesame seeds, cucumber, mung bean sprouts, 1 red bell pepper, and 2 cups scallions, as well as a peanut sauce. I found the seitan extraneous, but Derek said he liked it. The 4 cups of bean sprouts sounded like a lot but were delicious–they kind of echoed the noodle shape and feel, while being much lighter. I’d never used black sesame seeds before, and I couldn’t really taste them in this dish–maybe I should have toasted them first? The bell pepper was pretty, as was the cucumber, but I couldn’t really see adding 2 cups of scallions. I suspect it’s a typo, and should be 2 scallions, or 2 Tbs. of scallions? The peanut sauce was tasty plain, but I felt like the noodles ended up undersauced and a bit bland. I did cut down on the soy sauce though, which I probably shouldn’t have as Derek thought the final dish needed salt. I also didn’t have peanut oil so used olive oil–maybe it would have been better with the peanut oil. I also might have mis-measured the noodles, as my scale was broken and I had to eye ball the 10 ounces called for. Overall, I didn’t love this recipe, but it has some good ideas, and I’ll try it again. Derek thought it was tasty, but not as good as Madhur Jaffrey’s sesame noodle recipe above.  My modern vegetarian kitchen cookbook also has a recipe for sesame noodles, which we tried once but I can’t remember how it compared.

I found this recipe on the web somewhere a while ago, and it’s much more similar to the sauce on the noodles at China Palace.  I make it occasionally.

• thin egg noodles from an Asian grocer
• 40 g creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp. sugar (maybe more?)
• 28 g water
• 20 g soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, pressed
• 1/2 – 1 t. toasted sesame seed oil
• smidgeon cayenne
• thinly chopped scallions as a garnish

Here’s another recipe I found online, which I haven’t tried yet, but I like Nancie McDermott so I want to try it.

Cold Sesame Noodles

I adore sesame noodles and marvel at how simple it is to make this satisfying and unusual dish. They taste wonderful warm, at room temperature or cold. Asian noodles are traditional, but linguine or spaghetti, cooked al dente, work fine, and peanut butter makes a tasty and convenient substitute for Asian sesame paste, which is like tahini except that the Asian paste uses toasted sesame seeds. I like to stir the sauce together first, and then cook the noodles just before serving time. I like to add chopped cilantro along with the cucumber for extra flavor and color, and a teaspoon of hot sauce or chili paste for a fiery note. If you add shredded roast chicken, you have a main dish.

For the sauce:
3 tablespoons Asian sesame paste or peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons very hot water
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the noodles:
8 ounces fresh Chinese-style egg noodles, or dried spaghetti or linguine
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onion
3 tablespoons chopped, roasted, salted peanuts (optional)
1 cup cucumbers, sliced 1/4 inch thick

In a medium bowl large enough to toss the noodles with the sauce, combine the sesame paste or peanut butter, the soy sauce, hot water, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and salt. Whisk or stir well to combine into a smooth, thick sauce.

Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil over high heat. Drop in the noodles and cook until tender but still firm, stirring now and again to separate them and help them cook evenly, about 2 minutes for fresh Asian noodles, and 8 to 10 minutes for spaghetti or linguine.

When the noodles are tender but still firm, drain well and place them in the bowl. Toss well to coat the strands evenly. Add a little more hot water if needed to soften the noodles and distribute the sauce.

Add the green onion, and the peanuts if using them, and toss well. Transfer to a serving bowl or plate, and arrange cucumber slices around the noodles. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold. Serves four.