Ina Garten’s Szechuan noodles are awesome, but I wanted to see if I could make my own version of sesame noodles. I’ve eaten them plenty of times at restaurants and I’ve tried out enough recipes to be able to reproduce them at home.
Last time I made them, Ricky Dweck mentioned that he likes to put coconut milk in his sesame noodles, so I made sure to try that out.
I used whole wheat pasta, but I think it would be better with the regular, less-healthy kind. The taste and texture of the whole wheat pasta is just off.
One thing I didn’t include in my recipe was sesame paste (tahini), since I thought I had some in my fridge, but it seemed to have disappeared when I was ready to use it.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound of spaghetti
- 1/2 cup of peanut butter
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons of hot sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons of honey
- 2 teaspoons of coconut milk
- 2 teaspoons of rice vinegar
- Sesame seeds, for garnish
- Boil and drain the pasta
- Put the pot back on the fire and mix the rest of the ingredients together over low heat
- Add the pasta and coat evenly with the sauce
- Remove from fire and let cool
- When ready to serve, sprinkle with sesame seeds
The coconut milk was definitely a good touch; I’ve never included it in my sesame noodles, but I think I will from now on–thanks, Ricky!
One thing I may have done to make the sauce thinner is save some pasta water and added it slowly to the sauce mixture before adding the pasta back in, just to make it easier to coat the pasta. Try that out and let me know how it works.
