Who needs takeout when you can make this...

I recently discovered that cooking Asian inspired foods without ready made sauces is actually a lot simpler than I imagined. The trick is to have a couple of ingredients sitting around the kitchen. I recommend always having the following items handy for moments of Asian inspired creativity: rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, fresh ginger (whole or minced), soy sauce, rice noodles.

My coworker Angelica handed me a recipe earlier this week which was the inspiration for this dish. Unfortunately, I lost it and the following is a tasty attempt to recreate it...

You'll need:
1 bunch of green onions
1 tsp of ginger
3 cloves of garlic
Red pepper flakes to taste (I probably used 1/2 a teaspoon)
2 tablespoons of toasted sesame oil
1 orange zested and juiced
2 tablespoons of agave
1/4 cup of soy sauce
Tofu
Broccoli (1 cup blanched- boiled really quickly and then set aside)
Rice Noodles (2 cups cooked)

First, get a pot of water boiling.
Next, finely chop the green onions and sautee them in a sauce pan with the sesame oil. After a minute or so add the garlic, ginger, orange zest, red pepper flakes. Let this for a few minutes to get the flavors working, stir frequently.

Meanwhile, blanch the broccoli and then add your rice noodles to the boiling water.

Add the orange juice, agave and soy sauce and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the tofu and then broccoli. Finally add the rice noodles and stir everything together until everything is looking delectable.


On another note: an amazing salad dressing is 1 part rice wine vinegar, 1 part soy sauce and 1 part sesame oil. This noodle dish would be great served with chopped up kale topped with the soy/vinegar/sesame oil dressing.



I've really been enjoying Reisling lately. Usually, I find the excessive residual sugar is too much for my taste but I found this amazing one while I was wine tasting in Walla Walla a few weeks ago. Charles Smith Kung Fu Girl 2009 Riesling... This dry (barely any residual sugar) wine has perfect balance citrus and apple flavor. The citrus in this noodle dish brings out the citrus in the wine...