Spicy Thai Cold Noodles With Crushed Peanuts and Cilantro

This recipe comes from Wolfgang Puck’s Pizza, Pasta, and More! cookbook. It makes for a great light dinner or side dish. You can easily make this the main event by adding chicken, beef, or tofu. One of my favorite Thai dishes is the fresh spring roll. Not the deep fried ones, but the ones in rice paper, that have rice noodles and veggies in them. This dish reminds me of an inside out fresh Thai spring roll. This dish was really good the first night we had it, then the next day for lunch we had it and it was excellent. It really benefited from overnight refrigeration. So definitely plan to make this one ahead of time. We tried it first without the fresh lime juice (honestly because I forgot to put the limes on the table) and it was good, but the fresh lime juice really brightens the flavor…so don’t forget the limes! We’ll definitely make this one again.

Dressing:

• 3 TBSP light brown sugar
• 2 TBSP plus 1 tsp. soy sauce
• 2 TBSP rice wine vinegar
• 1 TBSP plus 1 tsp chili and garlic oil. Instead of making Puck’s chili and garlic oil, I just used oil, and added crushed red pepper and minced 2 garlic cloves.

Salad:

• 12 oz angel-hair pasta, allowed to dry after cooking. Puck says lay it out on a flat pan so noodles retain shape and don’t stick. I couldn’t accomplish this, so I went ahead and mixed the salad together then refrigerated.
• 1.5 oz (1/4 c.) Japanese pickled ginger, chopped
• 3/4 green onions, cut into 1 inch slices
• 1/2 c. fresh parsley leaves
• 1 cucumber, julienned
• 1/4 c. julienned carrots
• 1/4 c. roasted peanuts, coarsely chopped
• 1/4 c. minced cilantro leaves
• 8 wedges of lime

Directions:

1. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, and oil. Set aside.
2. When pasta is dry, place it in a large bowl and pour the dressing over. Toss to combine and let rest 1 or 2 minutes so that the dressing is absorbed. Add the remaining ingredients, reserving a few peanuts, scallions, and cilantro for garnish, and gently toss to combine. My advice: Don’t bother waiting for the pasta to dry, just combine everything and refrigerate. I’d refrigerate for as long as possible before serving.
3. To serve, garnish with peanuts, scallions, cilantro and lime wedges.

Spicy Thai Cold Noodles with Crushed Peanuts and Cilantro:

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