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Saturday 19 June 2010

Sesame Peanut Noodles

I have bad news and good news. The bad news; I'm back at work :( I no longer spend my days doing all the things I really love to do. The good news however, is that having a job pays better than spending my days doing all the things I really love to do!

The one thing I do like about working is that because my work day is much more structured, my eating habits automatically follow suit. I have three meals a day and snack on fruit and cherry tomatoes in between. Because I try not to eat a huge dinner, my biggest meal when I'm working is usually my lunch and though I love to cook, I can't be bothered to cook every day so I tend to cook up a big batch of something on Sundays and eat that three or four days in a row - I really don't have a problem eating the same food day after day; so long as it is something I love. I don't always cook something healthy for lunch but I do try to make sure it is not too carb laden (huge bowl of pasta = 2 hour struggle post-carb fest to keep my eyes from closing!) and that it contains vegetables and protein. I tend to try out most of my new recipes for lunch too! 

Last week, I decided to try out another recipe from Nigella Express; Sesame Peanut Noodles. I was considering stir frying some seasoned chicken breast to add some more protein to this recipe but decided that it wasn't necessary as I eat protein at breakfast and dinner. So Ms Afropolitan, this is a completely vegetarian recipe. Don't say I never gave you anything! :D

Don't be daunted by the list of ingredients; you will have a lot of them already and some can be substituted, for example, I used stir fry oil instead of garlic oil though I'm sure garlic oil would have given it that lovely garlicky  hint which I love. And a lot of the ingredients are pretty cheaply bought, e.g. beansprouts, a lime... give it a go, it's simple, healthy and pretty tasty!

Ingredients

For the Dressing
1 x 15ml tablespoon sesame oil
1 x 15ml tablespoon garlic oil
1 x 15ml tablespoon soy sauce
2 x 15ml tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
100g smooth peanut butter
2 x 15ml tablespoons lime juice (about the juice of 1 lime)

For the Salad
125g mangetout
150g beansprouts, rinsed
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into small strips
2 x spring onions, finely sliced (I love onions so I used 3)
2 x 275g packets or 550g ready-prepared egg noodles
20g sesame seeds
4 x 15ml tablespoons chopped fresh coriander

1 - Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a bowl or jug.
2 - Put the mangetout, beansprouts, red pepper strips, sliced spring onions and the noodles into a bowl
3 - Pour the dressing over them and mix thoroughly to coat everything well.
4 - Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and chopped coriander and pack up as needed

Serves 8

5 comments:

Ms Afropolitan said...

What a great post! (no, i'm not biased because it's veggie but yey, lol)

I have almost all the ingredients at home too, so will certainly be putting this on my list of bookmarked recipes!

Feeling your perspective on the pros and cons of the job.
Keep it up!

Chic Therapy said...

looks good!I need to stop wasting money eating lunch out while at work.

Teresa said...

Yum! This looks delicious and a great food to have for leftovers!

invasionista

1511th said...

Just so you know, I am getting a blank recipe book to write down the things I am learning from you.

Ps: Seems like Sunday nights would be the best day for dropping-by at yours for a quick hi and some take-away bowls

Unknown said...

Thanks for adding this.

I am on really far away placements, so I won't be able to pop home for lunch like I used to. I used to make big batches of pasta to help me with my hunger problem during the day, but you are right, by 3pm I am ready to sleep.

I am going to give this recipe a try. I need something filling for lunch and this sounds like it might just do the trick.