Secret Recipe Club
Today’s recipe is a fabulous one for an easy and stress-free midweek family meal, and is vegetarian and vegan; Sesame & Cashew Noodles for Meat Free Monday is made with pre-cooked Udon Noodles, cashew nuts, green peppers, spring onions and is dressed with a rich, sesame and garlic chilli sauce. Packed with essential vitamins and low in fat, it’s a much healthier version than a Chinese take away. It can be served hot or cold and is also the perfect vehicle to add meat, such as grilled chicken, if you aren’t veggie or vegan. The recipe is loosely adapted from Trisha’s “Sesame Peanut Noodles” over at My Hobbie Lobbie, and she adapted it from Nigella Lawson.
Trisha is my “secret assigned” partner for October, as part of the Secret Recipe Club; the Secret Recipe Club is a monthly cooking club – each month, one member is assigned to another member from their group secretly (hence the name). That person selects a recipe (or more) to make, photograph, which they then share in a blog post. Everyone in the group posts on the same Monday together and gets to see who had their blog and what recipe(s) they chose. It’s such a fun experience and it’s a great way to get new followers, too. There are always new blogs to discover, as well as new “online” friends too.
Trisha has some great recipes, and I found it very hard to choose just one to make – some of the other recipes that I bookmarked to make another time are: Bhajiyas – Vegetable Fritters; Deep-fried Lentil Fritters; Sriracha Teriyaki Meatballs; Aloo Tikkis and Baked Naan. But it was her Sesame Peanut Noodles that I decided to make for a mid-week supper dish a couple of weeks ago. I had all the ingredients, except from the peanut butter, but I had some cashew nuts and cashew nut butter that I used instead. There were lots of leftovers, which I popped into the fridge, and I served them with some grilled chicken kebabs next day. In place of coriander, which had sadly died in my garden, I used Thai Coriander, which is a citrus coriander flavoured leaf that I actually prefer to the usual coriander (cilantro).
Trisha’s recipe, with my regional ingredient amendments, is shared below, and you can use any type of noodles that suits. I hope you have a great week ahead, I’ll be back very soon with more travel stories and some new seasonal recipes too, so do keep popping back, Karen
Sesame & Cashew Noodles
Adapted recipe by: Nigella Lawson
Ingredients:
1 x 300g packet noodles, cooked, drained and cooled (I used Udon noodles)
2 spring onions, trimmed and finely sliced
1 green pepper, trimmed, de-seeded and sliced (the original recipe calls for red pepper)
4 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, chopped
Dressing:
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
3 tbsp smooth Cashew nut butter
Garnish:
Cashew Nuts
Method:
1. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing together.
2. Toss all the noodle salad ingredients in a large bowl reserving a little chopped coriander for the garnish.
3. Add the dressing and toss well to make sure that the noodles are coated well.
4. Garnish with some of the chopped coriander leaves and the cashew nuts and serve.
5. Any leftovers can be refrigerated and had the next day as well.
Trisha is from New South Wales in Australia, and she’s a baker, crafter and loves travelling. She used to have a very successful corporate career, which she gave up about 2 years ago to focus on her passion for baking and crafting. She’s now a full-time baker and crafter and specialises in wide range of products for parties, with a separate blog for that called Claire’s Party Supplies.
She has a fondness for collecting recipes and crochet patterns from all sorts of sources. My Hobbie Lobbie is her way of trying to keep a track of the recipes and patterns that she’s tried so far. On her blog you will also find some traditional Goan food that she’s picked up from her mother.
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Erin @ The Spiffy Cookie says
I wish this is what I was eating for dinner tonight! Definitely saving for later. And loving those thick noodles.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Erin, they are fab aren’t they, the thick Udon noodles, we love them! Karen
SallyBR says
My mouth is watering…. seriously….
great photos, and what a great choice for your assignment this month!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Sally, it was an easy choice in the end, as I had all the ingredients and I love noodles!
Emily @ Life on Food says
As normal your photos are gorgeous. Can I get this for dinner? Lovely recipe!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks so much Emily, it is a super easy and tasty recipe to make too!
Dom says
oh god this looks so good. I adore Udon noodles… so fat and unctuous! Yes please x
Karen Burns-Booth says
Me too Dom, I am a big fan of Udon noodles, and cashew nuts too!
Karen says
That looks amazing Karen, and your photos are stunning, as always! Pinned!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thank you very much Karen, I am very lucky with my wonderful light here in SW France for photos!
Trisha says
This is one of my favorite meal salads. I love that you used cashew nuts. I happen to love cashew nuts. I’d love to try this version out. And I need to try and find some Thai coriander now. I’ve never tried it before.
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Trisha, it was only because I didn’t have any of the usual coriander that I used my Thai coriander, but, the recipe was such a lovely one for a light supper! Karen
Johanna GGG says
This looks delicious – quick noodle recipes are definitely for me
Karen Burns-Booth says
We LOVE the wok-to-plate noodles here too Johanna! Karen
Katie Zeller says
I love noodles…. this would be a perfect lunch for me. And cashews – they’ve been a weakness since I was a child!
Karen Burns-Booth says
It was the perfect veggie/vegan meal and we loved the cashews in it too!
Philip says
Oh yes please. Stunning photography as always, and a great dish
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Phillip, it was a very dish indeed! Karen
Dorothy at Shockingly Delicious says
The big fat noodles, the crunchy cashews, the fragrant cilantro…YUM is all I can think. Great SRC recipe!
Sid says
Love Udon noodles and in fact have some in the fridge right now. This may be appearing later on in the week, and I’m wondering how some shrimp would go with it. Great SRC choice.
Charlie @ The Kitchen Shed says
This looks delicious! I am a bit obsessed with cashew nuts! This looks like it would definitely satisfy me on Meat free Monday.
Pamela says
Cashew noodles? I liked the idea. This seems to be a quick recipe.
Thanks for sharing it Karen 🙂
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks Pamela, it is a protein rich and very easy recipe! Karen
Julia Kruz says
This is an amazing recipe Karen, as you know I made it a short while ago and it was lovely, in fact have made it again! But instead of sweet chilli sauce i used ketchup:) Try this recipe guys. It is gorgeous! Thx for sharing!
Karen Burns-Booth says
Thanks for the update Julia, and I can see that using ketchup would work really well too! Karen