Sunday, May 6, 2012

Chili Lime Noodles With All of the Things

This is one of my favorite recipes. It's delicious by itself, but it also makes a great base for adding veggies and other sautéeables (is that a word?).

My only tweak to the recipe itself is to use only 1/2 teaspoon of oil—just to keep the noodles from sticking. I have made this recipe completely oil free before and although it tasted fine when it was freshly made, the leftover noodles were clumped together in a cold, hard rock the next day. 

Note to self: I might try making them oil free again and reheat them the next day in a skillet with a little veggie broth to see if that helps break them up...

What I also love about these noodles is how flavorful they are. The ginger and garlic just taste so fresh, and the sriracha gives it just enough kick to make your sinuses clear.

So. Yesterday I went for an hour-long swim and came home ravenous. Fortunately, I had already whipped up a batch of these noodles the day before, so all I needed to do was sautée up some yummies to go with them. First I took some tofu*, cut it into small slices, and marinated it for about 10 minutes in 1 T low-sodium tamari and 1 T garlic granules. I browned the tofu in a skillet, and then I added my veggies. In my CSA box this week were a bag of snow peas, some fresh grape tomatoes, and a head of cabbage, so I thought those would go together nicely.

Ring Around the Snow Peas

Halfway through I added my cold, already cooked noodles, and just stirred the whole thing until it was warm.

Can I get a 'nom?
I topped with some crushed unsalted peanuts, and voilà! The perfect recovery meal.

*If you're concerned about pesticides and GMOs, you should really use organic tofu. I like Wildwood Sprouted Tofu because it's more nutritious than the plain old kind.

Also, tofu really needs to be marinated in order to taste good. Most people who say they hate tofu hate it because someone dumped it out of a package onto a plate. My favorite (and the easiest) marinade is 1 T tamari with 1 T garlic granules, but you can use any sort of marinade that you would use for meat and it should absorb the flavor.

2 comments:

  1. This looks SO good Court! Where do you get the Wildwood Spouted Tofu? I'm new to cooking with tofu and my kids do NOT like it yet so I'm trying your marinade.

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  2. Hey Mel! I get it at Wheatsville, and it's pretty cheap--under $2.50 for a container.

    I learned from Tess that the key is to squeeze as much water out of it as you can. So when you get the tofu out, cut it in half, lengthwise (so you have two thin pieces) and lay them flat on a plate or cutting board. Then put some paper towels on top and either use something heavy or your hands to press and absorb the water.

    Then put on the marinade. Try it out, I bet the kids won't even know it's tofu!

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