The local Chinese restaurant near me does a spicy noodle dish as a side which is served cold Now that we live far away I don’t seem to have come across it. So I experimented and have, I think, come up with a good approximation. Getting the correct balance of ingredients and consistency has been an interesting process – a little bit of this, a little bit of that, how salty do you want it – until it finally tastes right. I combined the sauce with rice noodles and ate it as a vegetarian meal with scallions scattered over the top, but it could also be a dipping sauce for crudites, if you don’t dilute it too much, or as a satay sauce for chicken.
Boiling water – both for cooking rice noodles and for diluting the peanut sauce
4 oz. rice noodles
Pour boiling water over the rice noodles in a pan and let stand for 10 minutes during which time you can make the sauce.
Spicy Peanut Sauce
2 tbsp. smooth peanut butter
2 large cloves of garlic – finely grated
Bunch of scallions – finely chopped (reserve some for sprinkling over the top)
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1 1/2 – 2 tbsp. gluten-free soy sauce (depending on how salty you like things)
Juice of half a lime
Boiling water to dilute sauce to a coating consistency for the noodles.
Place the peanut butter, garlic, scallions, soy sauce, and lime juice in a bowl and whisk together, adding boiling water to get the desired consistency.
Pour sauce over the noodles, mix together well and sprinkle chopped scallions over the top.
Serve immediately or you will find that the sauce tends to thicken up again.
