Cold sesame noodles and vegetables
1 hour 35 min
A long-time favourite at Chinese restaurants, cold sesame noodles make a great main or side dish. We've replaced hard-to-find sesame paste with peanut butter and sesame oil.
Norma MacMillan
2 people made this
Ingredients
Serves: 4
- 225g (8oz) wholemeal linguine
- For the sauce
- 15g (½oz) fresh coriander leaves
- 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
- 2 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
- 2½ tsp honey
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar or cider vinegar
- 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 carrots, slivered
- 1 red pepper, slivered
- 1 large celery stick, slivered
- 2 spring onions, slivered
Method
Prep:15min ›
Cook:1hr20min ›
Ready in:1hr35min
- Cook the linguine in a large pot of boiling water according to the packet instructions. Drain, reserving 125ml (4fl oz) of the cooking water.
- While the pasta is cooking, combine the coriander, peanut butter, soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic and cayenne pepper in a food processor. Process until smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.
- Whisk in the reserved pasta cooking water. Add the linguine, carrots, pepper, celery and spring onions, and toss. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving.
Some more ideas
*Add blanched cauliflower or broccoli florets to the pasta and vegetable mixture.
*Serve this dish warm by heating the sauce, then add cubes of cooked tofu.
Health points
The pasta cooking water, which carries some of the pasta's starch, is used here to stretch the sauce. It's a traditional Italian technique for thinning or smoothing a sauce so that it coats the pasta evenly. And the water replaces what might otherwise be oil or other fat.
