Work Lunch: Cold Sesame Noodle Salad with Ginger and Chili
Posted by Ari on September 9, 2009 in Quick & Easy, Savory Recipes | 33 Comments
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I have bad habits just like anyone and two of them drive my husband nuts. First, I have a tendency to leave glasses all over the apartment because I forget where they are and can’t find them when I want a drink. He’s been trying to break me of this habit for years. We even tried picking a “special spot” where I could leave the glasses so I wouldn’t forget where they were – but then I forgot where the special spot was. 
Second, I’m a hopeless pack-rat when it comes to food magazines. I have stacks of them – piles! – stashed in bookshelves and closets. What can I say? You never know when a little culinary inspiration will be found while leafing through an old issue of Bon Appetit or Saveur.
Every now and then my husband will shake his head and wonder why I’m so funny when it comes to glasses and magazines, and usually I just tell him that if those are the only two things he feels the need to complain about he’s pretty darn lucky as far as marriages go. But then we moved to a new apartment this past July, and as I watched the moving boxes pile up – several of them filled with food magazines – I began to see the light. Maybe my penchant for food magazines was a little out of hand?
Since then I’ve resolved to do something about all those magazines and have spent hours going through old issues, tearing out recipes or articles I like, and then organizing them in binders arranged by topic. It’s been kinda fun actually, causing me to re-discover several recipes I’d mentally added to my “must make” list years ago, then promptly forgotten all about. And of course, my husband is ecstatically watching those stacks become neat little binders innocuously shelved in the kitchen.
One of my favorite discoveries these past few weeks is a recipe for Cold Sesame Noodle Salad from a seven-year-old issue of Martha Stewart Living. What makes it so great? Well there’s the flavor for starters, which is a scrumptious mixture of peanut, toasted sesame, ginger, cilantro and chili. I enjoy noshing on this meal so much I Twittered about it last week – and made it again this week. Another thing that makes this dish spectacular as far as work-week meals go is how quick it is to put together. 10 minutes from start to finish, I kid you not. As soon as the water boils I toss the udon noodles in and get busy putting the sauce together. Aside from chopping the ginger, scallions, cilantro and garlic the majority of the recipe only involves mixing some sauces and peanut butter together. By the time I’m done with the sauce the noodles are usually ready to drain, meaning all that’s left is for me to toss the two together. Voila. Lunch for the week. You don’t even have to heat it up at work.
Cold Sesame Noodle Salad
Slightly adapted from this Martha Stewart recipe
Ingredients: Serves 4
- One 12-ounce package Udon noodles or linguine
- 3 large cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons dark sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup rice-wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- 3 scallions, thinly sliced, plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted, plus more for garnish
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- Optional garnishes: chopped peanuts, bean sprouts, mushrooms – whatever you like!
Bring a large pot of water to boil.
In a medium bowl, combine the garlic, ginger, chili flakes, sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, peanut butter, scallions, sesame seeds, cilantro, and salt. Stir until combined and set aside while cooking noodles.
Add the noodles to boiling water and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain in a colander, and rinse with cold water to stop the cooking. Transfer the noodles to a large bowl or tupperware and toss with the sauce. Sprinkle with additional scallions, sesame seeds and cilantro, if desired. You can also add things like chopped peanuts, sprouts and mushrooms.
This recipe will keep in the fridge for one week. Serve cold.
Sesame Noodle Recipes on Other Blogs:
- Cold Noodle in Sesame Sauce from Chez Pim
- Cold Sesame Noodles from Serious Eats
- Sesame Noodles with Cucumber from Cook & Eat
- Peanut Sesame Noodles from Smitten Kitchen
- Sesame Noodle and Vermicelli Salad from Simply Recipes
- Dumph Noodle Anyone?
- Spiced Quinoa Timbales with Avocado-Orange Spinach Salad
- Foggy Day Chili & Farm Stand Cornbread
- Romantic Homemade Pasta Sauce
- Oatmeal & Peanut Butter Treats for Fido
- I Like it Simple, Sweet & Savory
- Easy Three Cheese Broccoli Calzones (Plus: My First How-To Video!)
- Butternut Squash Lasagne with Fresh Sage & Thyme
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This looks and sounds fabulous! I am so making this for myself while my husband is out of town. I too have a problem of leaving cups…I’ve gotten better now they only collect up in our master bathroom.
This looks like a delicious recipe! Did I miss it or did you forget to list the amount of ginger in the ingredients list?
Nope, it’s there, right under the sesame oil.
Argh! And I read your ingredients list twice. Sorry!
No problem. I’ve forgotten things before so I’m glad you’re looking over the ingredients.
That’s really funny
My husband gets annoyed at me because I pick up every glass I see! I’m always dumping them out and putting them in the dishwasher. If he can’t find his glass, he just looks at me. My sheepish grin is confession enough.
As for recipes and magazines, o my, do I have an addiction to rival yours! We recently moved and I found a stack of old recipe clippings, papers I’ve printed out from foodnetwork.com and magazines. I’ve decided the project of sorting them will make a nice, rainy Saturday project!
Jen
YUMMMMM!
i have the same problems, haha! i have no less than five drinking glasses all over the house at any given time.
and i’m not telling how many food mags.
thanks for sharing this lovely recipe! i know what i’m having for lunch today.
We all have bad habits, no worries, haha
Excellent dish!
Not bad habits, just habits… Magazines, newspaper clippings; from the internet I hand copy recipes most of the time to curb overdoing it. This goes back to 1965 when I started cooking for real. I have a notebook by categories, I have files, and now I have delicious online (as well as recipe boxes on various web sites). Sometimes I think I just like to read recipes more than cook them.
Personal note on pregnancy: Only my last child was born of a vegetarian pregnancy, when I already had 3 little boys in the house. I was full of energy, felt great (just a little nausea early on) — and went up and down stairs from basement to 2nd floor with enthusiasm and laundry. And she turned out to be the healthiest and most academic of them. So much for the doubters!
Ohh. The ‘glasses’ thing would drive me nuts. The noodles however, look fantastic!
That is a perfect noodle dish! I love those flavors!
Cheers,
Rosa
Looks delicious, I am printing out the recipe right now, so that I have a list of the ingredients for my shopping list. Always on the look out for quick, delicious meal ideas.
of course you posted this the day I forgot to bring lunch to work…
enjoy some for me too.
Aw, that makes me sad! I’m sorry your forgot your lunch.
Made a quick adaptation and had “almost” this for dinner last night, soba version and gluten free version, added broc and cauliflower from the freezer, peanut sauce leftovers…yummy dinner.
This sounds really good, and a lot like my lunch today… except my lunch wasn’t super tasty, because it was one of those nearly instant meals with the stupid packaging.
I should make this for next week’s lunches.
Often times when I have peanut butter in my pantry, I’m quick to use it in baking or sweet applications. I tend to forget how good it is as a sauce for savory dishes. Thanks for posting this and I hope to try this soon!
I have the same problem with food magazines. Some time ago I started marking the recipes I want to save in each magazine, then I look for them online, and either copy them to my recipe files on my computer, or save them on the food magazine’s website. I love the ones that offer this feature!
They look really delicious! I have not ever tried yet, but it seems high time, with your recipe, thanks!
I think I have this same recipe bookmarked! This is encouragement to give it a try.
I’ve found that many of the recipes are on the Internet, so I can bookmark them and share the mags with my sisters.
Of course that takes time. Lots of it. And I don’t have much – esp. with a baby boy. Just wait! You’re next!
Oh my does that look and sound delicious! I’ll have to try it sometime.
I got really busy and stopped reading food blogs, but now I’ve gotten all caught up with yours and am back to reading regularly. Congratulations on the baby! I’m so happy for you.
Hi Ari,
Just wanted to let you know that I just made this wonderful dish. My husband and I actually couldn’t wait for the dish to cool, and we ate some as soon as the pasta was tossed with the sauce. The dish is delicious and we’re very happy we have some left over for our workday lunch. You’re right. the prep time took about 10 minutes and it was really easy. I’m an absolute novice at this but didn’t have any problem. I think my biggest challenge was shopping for rice-wine vinegar and dark sesame oil, I had to find where they were located in the grocery store.
This is so me! I love it. I would love for you to join me at diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com for Crock Pot Wednesday. We are all about ease of preparation and good taste.
We have the same habit, I love to have stacks of magazines. Some are even under my bed and in my closet. I’m not ready yet to tear my Martha’s mags apart. Maybe someday. Love your recipe.
Oh that sounds like EXACTLY what I want to have for lunch tomorrow!
We got rid of a lot of magazines when we had to pack to move to Malaysia. But the good thing is, so many recipes are online.
10 minutes from start to finish is very quick! Awesome. I like the use of peanut butter in the dish too.
Yum! This is my all-time favorite dish to order from our local kosher chinese place.
Do you have any idea re: the nutritional stats?
I’m a pack rat when it comes to the Real Simple recipes. LOVE them!
Yes, if you divide the recipe into five servings each one has 451 calories, 20.3g fat, 0mg cholesterol, 54.5g carbs and 17.1g protein.
This looks so good! I know what you mean about the magazine…they are starting to take over my apartment!
I bet this sauce would be good on other things, too…I’m wondering if I could make it a little lower in carbs by using Dreamfields low glycemic pasta, cutting the amount of noodle a bit, and throwing in some steamed veggies. Or maybe a little tofu or tempeh…okay, now I have to go play with this a little. Thanks!
I will add this recipe to the stacks that I want to make!
You and I have the same problem–I have stacks and stacks of food magazines (and travel magazines) that I have kept for years and years because of articles that I liked or recipes that I wanted to make and I made a mental note to do what you are doing–organize them into binders. However. The thought of going through all of them and then trying to organize them is a much more daunting task that packing them all up and moving them (again), so if you have time and are so inclined, please share with me (and all your other readers, because I bet a lot of people have this same problem) how exactly you’ve decided to embark on that particularly arduous task.
Thanks!!!
My mom used to work for a small catering company and sesame noodles were one of their specialties. She’s make them for me and I’d eat them until I was sick! This reminds me I really need to get that recipe from her… Though I might just try yours now!
I have always wanted to try out noodles with sesame dressing. I love the pic that you posted and it enticed me to make this noodle salad for my husband’s lunch tomorrow!
It tastes really yummy and I look forward to more recipes from your collection!
Thanks!