Sesame Noodles

From Madhur Jaffrey's World of the East Vegetarian Cooking, Knopf, 1973. ISBN 0-394-40271-5 or 0-394-74867-0.

Good lunch food.

Ingredients

1 medium cucumber (optional)
1 carrot (optional)
Alfalfa sprouts (optional)
1/2 lb. fresh chinese egg noodles or normal-sized spaghetti
3 tbl. sesame oil
4 tbl. tahini
1 tbl. soy sauce
2 tsp. vinegar
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
Dash cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. salt - or to taste
1 tbl. vegetable oil
1 tbl. hot water

Directions

To make the sauce: mix 1 tsp. of the sesame oil, the tahini, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, cayenne pepper, salt, vegetable oil, and hot water together. Mix well using a fork. Note: Tahini is a pain to work with; it is often lumpy. I haven't found a good solution for this.

Boil the noodles. Be careful not to get them overdone. Drain and toss with the remaining sesame oil. Let cool to room temperature or refrigerate. (The noodles might have to be well-coated with oil and not overdone to refrigerate without sticking together - we haven't ever had any problems with this.)

If you with to serve the noodles with carrots or cucumbers, prepare by slicing into (thin) matchsticks. Peel if you want to. Discard the cucumber seeds by slicing lengthwise and scooping the seeds out with a teaspoon.

To serve: Toss the noodles with the sauce in a large bowl, mixing thoroughly. Serve with carrot and cucumber slices and sprouts on top.

Comments

We have never used Chinese noodles; we always use spaghetti.

I believe the sauce should keep for a good while in the refrigerator.

Jim Plank

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