Peanut Sauce Party!

Saturday for lunch, I made noodles with sugar snap peas and peanut sauce. The peanut sauce was so good (and so abundant!) that we had it for dinner again tonight. No photos due to minor computer vs. camera issues, but trust me, it looked good. Having seen photos of food I've made that I thought looked and tasted delicious enough to show off, I'll leave it up to you to decide if you think your tastes will agree with mine.

Peanut Sauce:
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1.5 tbsp grated ginger root
- 0.5 cup peanut butter
- 0.5 cup soy sauce
- 0.5 cup rice vinegar
- 0.5 cup water or veggie stock
- 3 tbs brown sugar (if using unsweetened peanut butter)
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes (to your taste, we like it hella hot, so I used more and then we put Sriracha on it, too)
- 1 tbs hoisin sauce (if you don't have it, ketchup will work)
- 1 tbs cornstarch

Stuff to sauce:
This is pretty much up to you. It was good on Saturday with sugar snaps, cilantro, and scallions, but tonight I added some more stuff and liked it even better. I'm sure it would be good with chicken or shrimp (if you hate animals and want to eat them) and I know it would be tasty with tofu (that being my preference and all).
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 1 celery stalk, sliced on an angle
- 0.5 of a smallish onion or 5 scallions, cut into strips either way
- 6 oz sugar snap peas
- 1 tsp spicy mustard (I added this on a whim, you can leave it out)
- big handful of cilantro, chopped
- roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
- Oriental noodles, whichever kind is your favorite. I like wheat noodles, but if you like rice noodles or bean threads, have at it.

Put the pasta water on to boil, and heat up a skillet. While the noodles cook, add the onions, carrot, and celery to the skillet with a splash of soy sauce. Cook just until the onions start to turn translucent (not too long!), then put in the sugar snap peas, spoonful of mustard, and a tablespoon or so of the hot pasta water. Cover the pan, turn off the heat under the veggies, and let them hang out and steam until the noodles are done.

I had my sauce all ready to go from Saturday, so I don't have a pan-use-reducing solution for this one. Get out a saucepan and cook the garlic, ginger, and pepper flakes over medium heat just until they're fragrant. Stir the cornstarch into the veggie stock and set it aside. Then dump all the other sauce ingredients in and stir gently until they come to a simmer. It will look lumpy and gross, but trust me. When everything is simmering, dump in the cornstarch + broth slurry and simmer another minute. Sauce is done. Just keep it warm until you're ready to pour it over stuff.

Drain the noodles, reserving about half a cup of the cooking water to adjust the sauce consistency. Toss the veggies with the noodles with sauce, adding reserved pasta water as necessary. Sprinkle liberally with peanuts and cilantro before serving.

This made about 4 servings when I cooked about a 2 inch diameter bunch of noodles. Depending on your sauce usage, you'll probably have leftovers.