I know Mother’s Day has come and gone, but if you have an awesome mom like mine, you know as well as I do that its never too late to make dinner for her. Well, with mine living half way around the world, I figured instead of cooking for her, I’d share a recipe with one of her favorite ingredients. I know how you love your peanut butter mom so this one’s for you!
Wholesome soba noodles slathered in peanut sauce is my new go-to meal. I’ve already made this twice in two weeks and I rarely say that about any recipe since I’m always craving something new. This tasty vegan one dish dinner is rich and filling with all kinds of nutritious ingredients and healthy fats. I have been looking for an excuse to make peanut sauce soba noodles for a while now and after seeing a sinfully good looking picture on Pinch of Yum, I was sold and went into MUST EAT NOW mode.
After a few tries, I’m happy to report the peanut sauce recipe ended up so tasty that it barely made it to the pasta! Sometimes you just need to taste test a recipe a dozen and a half times – not because you’ve added anything new and it might have changed, but more because you just can’t get enough of the stuff. This peanut sauce was one of those recipes. If you’re worried about the spice level curry paste brings to the table, try just adding one tablespoon to start off and then add more if you want to take it up a notch.
Soy should be high on the priority list when choosing what to buy organic, but if you don’t eat a lot of soy in general, you’re probably fine either way. There are so many shortcuts in this recipe that make those edamame beans just so stinkin’ easy, that you’ll be making this all the time. After prepping the veggies and starting the peanut sauce, just toss pre-shelled edamame beans into boiling water with some soba noodles, let em’ boil for a few minutes, drain and throw it all together and dinner’s done!
Some of these ingredients might sound a little obscure if you don’t frequent Asian markets on the regular, but you should be able to find pretty much everything at your regular grocery store, other than maybe curry paste. I used light coconut milk, buckwheat soba noodles
, and my staple Mae Ploy Thai curry paste 
which life wouldn’t even be worth living without. I am absolutely in love with that stuff and it keeps for a while in the fridge so you shouldn’t need to replace your curry supply too often.
I’ve got a few different tools I use for making veggie noodles too, but lately I have been loving just using a julienne peeler more than anything. I can’t find the same version I have online, but this
one is pretty similar. Don’t get me wrong, I love my inspiralizer
and all, but using a julienne peeler is just soooo much quicker and easier to clean, and I’m all about quick and easy for weeknight meals. Or, you can always just slice them really thin with a knife if you’re a real pro. I’m a total sucker for kitchen tools though and can’t resist an excuse to get a new single-purpose random gadget. Its a serious character flaw that I just can’t seem to justify or move past… so I’ve embraced it.
- Noodles and Vegetables
- 1 pkg buckwheat soba noodles
- 2 carrots, thinly cut into noodle like pieces
- 1 red pepper, sliced as thinly as possible (think noodle thickness)
- 1 10 oz. pkg. frozen shelled edamame beans, defrosted
- 3 green onions, sliced
- ½ cup Thai basil leaves, roughly torn
- Peanut sauce
- 1 14 oz. can light coconut milk
- 2 Tbsp. Thai red curry paste
- ⅔ cup natural peanut butter, unsweetened and unsalted
- 2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
- 2 Tbsp. coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
- 1 Tbsp. low sodium soy sauce
- 2 Tbsp. fresh squeezed lime juice
- ¼ cup water (or more)
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat.
- While water is coming to a boil, make sauce by adding all peanut sauce ingredients to a small sauce pan and bringing to a low simmer over medium-low heat, whisking continuously to thoroughly mix ingredients. Reduce heat and continue stirring while sauce simmers for approximately 5 minutes. During this time, add additional water if sauce is too thick. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Add soba noodles and edamame beans to boiling water and cook for about 4 minutes.
- Drain noodles and beans and toss with peanut sauce, carrot, red pepper, green onion, and basil. This dish can be eaten hot or cold.
I think you’d like it! You can easily throw in some more veggies to lighten it up and use chicken to make it more filling. I just love that I’ve gotten Ted to start eating peanut butter. Those Europeans don’t know what they’re missing out on!
Thanks for the Mother’s Day thought and recipe. I will definitely try this soon! Peanuts and Soba noodles could be my new favorite thing! Love you! Mom