Raggameal: Peanut Noodles

Last night was my Fantasy Football draft.  You must be thinking, wow, Erin, you are probably a pretty big NFL fan.  I am not.  I don't know anything about football.  The only NFL players I can name are famous for things other than football.  Like Tom Brady, who I drafted by the way, impregnated both Michelle Moynahan and Gisele Bundchen so of course I know who he is.  

So, ya, it was draft night so I didn't have much time to deal with cooking.  I had planned on getting take out, but I didn't even have time for that.  I was talking to a friend, telling him I was about to dig in the cupboards to see what I could craft into a meal.  His response?  Oh, a raggameal, huh?  I love it.  Post title, check! 

I dug around, and found that I had rice noodles.  I always have peanut butter and the other ingredients for peanut sauce, and I miraculously had broccoli and a red pepper.  I don't even remember when or why I bought those two items, but there they were, in my fridge and fresh(ish).

I have made peanut noodles before (see here) so this recipe is not new, but whatever.

2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small chili pepper, minced
1 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp chopped unsalted roasted peanuts

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

some broccoli, cut into florettes

(You can use whatever veggies you want)

1 package rice noodles

(I used pad thai-type noodles, but anything will work here.  Even non-rice noodles are good.  I have made peanut noodles with spaghetti before, and it was delicious)

1 tsp sesame seeds

1.  Make peanut sauce.

Heat oil in saucepan.  DO NOT HEAT TOO MUCH.  Keep the burner on low - medium.  Add garlic and chili pepper and cook for 15 seconds.  Add peanut butter and stir until warm.  Add soy sauce and stir until combined.  Add water a bit at a time, stirring, until combined.  Add remaining ingredients, stir, and cook 4 minutes.  I usually end up using more like 2-3 Tbsp brown sugar, but you can adjust the ingredients to your tastes.  I also add a healthy dose of Sriracha. 

2.  Cook the broccoli and red pepper, if you want.  I am not a huge fan of raw broccoli, though I do like raw red peppers.  I sauted the broccoli until tender, then turned off the skillet and threw in the red peppers.  They got kind of warm, but didn't really cook.

3.  Boil water and cook the noodles as the package directs.

4.  Here is choice time.  Do you want cold noodles (my preference) or warm noodles.  If you want warm, drain the pasta, throw in the veggies and peanut sauce, toss and eat.  This works best if the peanut sauce is still warm.  If you want cold noodles, you have to let the peanut sauce cool a bit.  Then drain the noodles and run cold water over them.  Add the veggies and peanut sauce and toss.

5.  Put some on a plate and sprinkle sesame seeds to make it pretty.  Eat.

According to the authorities, I did really well in my draft.  Yay! I did have one autopick because I missed my slot while cooking, but whatever.

Oh, and like all my cooking, it was delicious.  I ate WAY too much of it.

Bon appetit.

Spicy Peanut Noodles

*** The Giants have won the first two games of the World Series.  It's hard to talk about cooking with that kind of excitement! ***


I didn't really make this dinner last night.  With the first game of the World Series starting at 5 and a Blazer game at 7:30, there was no time to even consider cooking a meal.  I ordered a pizza from American Dream and forgot to take pics, not that a pepperoni pizza makes for interesting photos.  And how am I supposed to talk about ordering a pizza on a cooking blog?


This meal is from last Friday.  Per the norm, I got home starving but without any idea of what to cook.  I rummaged through the pantry and found some wide rice noodles.  That was a start.  I had a jalapeno and some garlic in my produce basket, so I thought - peanut sauce.  Peanut sauce makes everything delicious, in my opinion.  


2 Tbsp vegetable oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small chili pepper, minced
1 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 Tbsp packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp chopped unsalted roasted peanuts
1 Tbsp finely chopped mint


Heat oil in saucepan.  Add garlic and chili pepper and cook for 15 seconds.  Add remaining ingredients, except mint, and cook 4 minutes.  Add mint and serve.


In the case of this dinner, I did not have roasted peanuts or mint.  Also, I don't really use this recipe to the T - I just sort of add peanut butter, water, soy sauce, and brown sugar until it tastes right to me.  Also, I always put in a squirt of Sriracha.


As I mentioned, I was quite hungry while I put together this meal.  It ended up taking longer than I anticipated, mostly because I did a bad job of softening the rice noodles, so while I waited, I set up the photo shoot.  I took a pic of the bare plate because I thought it was sorta funny.  


Bon appetit.