Little Magpie

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Asian Peanut Noodles with Tofu

Ingredients

Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
Garlic, 2 tbsp
Red Pepper, 1 large, julienned
Carrot Strips, 1/2 cup
Sugar Snap Peas, about 30 (1 cup or so)
Firm Tofu, 8 oz, cubed
Egg Noodles, 6 – 12 oz package
Peanut Butter, 2 tbsp
Rice Vinegar, 4 tbsp
Brown Sugar, 4 tbsp
Lime Juice, 3 tbsp or juice of 1 lime
Sesame Oil or Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
Red Pepper Flakes
Green Onions, fresh, chopped
Asian sweet chili sauce to taste (like Mae Ploy, available in Asian food stores)

Directions

Sauté garlic in olive or sesame oil in a wok or pan
Add pepper, carrots & peas and cook for 5 – 10 mins
Add tofu – cook 5 – 10 mins
Start water boiling for egg noodles, then cook 4 – 6 mins
Mix remaining ingredients (except red pepper flakes, green onion and chili sauce) with a fork or whisk in a small bowl and add just as noodles finish cooking for 1 – 2 mins on low heat
Drain egg noodles thoroughly and add to vegetables and sauce, toss to coat and heat
Serve Add 1 cup barley, broth and 3 cups water
Simmer approx 20 mins
Whisk together flour and milk thoroughly, add to soup
Simmer 5 – 10 more mins

Source/Lineage

This recipe was modified (vegetarian) from the recipe

featured in Fitness Magazine – January 2011.

The Nitty Gritty

Nutritional info per serving obtained via SparkPeople Recipes:
  • Servings Per Recipe: 4
  • Calories: 450
  • Total Fat: 19.0 g
  • Cholesterol: 54.2 mg
  • Sodium: 323.8 mg
  • Total Carbs: 64.3 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 5.9 g
  • Protein: 21.2 g 

 

Inspiration

I’d been craving an Asian style noodle dish with peanut sauce, and I’ve been trying to amp up my protein intake.  At a glance, this recipe looked perfect, but then I found it was a cold salad-style meal.  No good.  I wanted a hot dish for dinner.  So, with a few tweaks – replacing shrimp with tofu for a change, using egg instead of cellophane noodles (purely based on pantry contents) and thickening up the dressing to serve as a sauce, we were all set.

Added benefit – this dish was an enormous hit with my family, including the seven year old – she devoured it.  I think it was just sweet enough for her, and the vegetables were non-threatening, crunchy and a little sweet as well.  Nutritional information is without any toppings.  The grown-ups each added the chili sauce and green onions to our servings, and it was great.  Healthy and tasty.

Best of all, this meal took literally 20 minutes from walking into the kitchen to putting it on the table.  You can’t beat that!

Enjoy!