Copycat cuisine Part I : Nut allergy alert!
The credit for this one goes to Cumin & Coriander. Rarely do I follow a recipe to the letter, but this one seemed an original combination of some of my individually favourite ingredients, so I tried my best to be obedient.
Of course, those who know me know there's no such thing as "enough" garlic, so I went on a spree with it, and the vegetable oil I used for the garlic-chilli dressing was peanut oil since the highlight of the sauce for the pasta was peanut butter (why do things halfway, right?).
Ordinarily, I'd have reached for olive oil (ho-hum) without a second thought but now that the big 3-0 looms large, I alternate between feeling anxious, reckless and blasée. In short, I urgently needed to be surprised, even in a bad way, so peanut oil it was. And a surprise I got indeed!
I'll confess I was prepared for the worst, and was even reluctant to sit down and eat, buying time taking pictures and fussing over my hair, hoping a dingo would come and carry the noodles away. When I finally reminded myself that I'd sought to inflict the surprise on myself in the first place, I grudgingly poked a forkful of spaghetti into my mouth... Whoa! Did I get that right? I had to have a second forkful to believe it! The richness of the peanut butter was unexpectedly welcome, but nonetheless easily offset by the piquancy of the chilli and garlic. Perfecting the balance of sweet+salty+spicy isn't always a given, but I managed to and it was purely divine. And that was when the noodles were already cold! I can't imagine how I'd have gagged in pleasure had I eaten them hot off the stove!
This is definitely a dish that will make repeat appearances on my table! Thanks, Stefanie (if you're reading this)!
Variations: I'm sure asparagus would be just as gag-inducing. Just guessing, though, since this is my very first time making this.
Body count: 7 shrimp in this picture
P.S.: I happened to pair this with my last glass of Retsina from the bottle, and it also turned out to be a pleasant surprise!
7 comments:
Hi Shilpa, glad you enjoyed the peanut noodles! Unfortunately I can't see your photo, for some reason the link doesn't work :(
Hi Stefanie, thanks for writing! Not sure what's wrong with the photo, though, it displays normally on my side..
Sounds good !!! Moi ca me plait bien en tout cas...avec un vin grec, why not ;-)
Amitiés
claude
Merci pour tes commentaires Claude! :) Le vin grec était un heureux hasard, ce qui fait de cette recette une espèce de "tour du monde", avec des ingrédients aussi simples que divers! Je suppose que tu es allé sur le site de Stefanie voir la recette?
hee-haw shilpa, the pix is not coming up for me....
but with a combi of sweet+savory+spicy....it must be good! You slurped...swooped the noodles ?
Hi everyone! Is it better now? Can you see the picture?
tigerfish, I think it's more appropriate to say I "wolfed" them down, haha!
slurpy slurp slurp, nuts and noodles :) I know the Nothern Chinese cuisine luvs making this peanut noodles in the summer time, its more like a cold noodle, good thing you have is the shrimps, they ain't got that, like you said, anything goes...cheers :)
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