Light-Style Peanut-Lime Noodles

Locale: China

Source: Barbara Tropp, The China Moon Cookbook [p. 400]

Serves: 3-4

Ingredients

Dressing:

  • 0.25 c + 2 tbs peanut butter
  • 2 tbs soy sauce
  • 2 tbs serrano-lemongrass vinegar
  • 1.5 tbs fresh lime juice
  • 2 tbs pickled ginger juice
  • 2 tbs sugar
  • 0.25 tsp kosher salt
  • 0.25 tsp roasted szechuan pepper-salt
  • 0.25 c five-flavor oil
  • 1.5 tsp hot chili oil
  • 1 tsp goop from China Moon Hot Chili Oil
  • 1 lb very thin Chinese egg noodles
  • 1 c julienned carrot
  • 1 c julienned cucumber
  • 1 c julienned daikon
  • 0.25 c scallion rings
  • 2 tbs toasted black sesame seeds
  • grated zest of 1 lime

Garnishes:

  • ginger-pickled radish rounds
  • 0.5 c chopped roasted peanuts
  • scallion julienne

Steps

  1. Combine all dressing ingredients, whisking to blend.

  2. Boil the noodles, following the package times. (Tropp uses fresh noodles, so they cook in about 2 minutes.) Drain, plunge in ice water to chill, and drain again.

  3. Put the dressing in a large bowl. Add the noodles and julienned vegetables, and toss to combine. Taste and correct seasoning. Top with the other ingredients and garnishes.

Notes

  1. Dressing ingredients reference various other recipes in the book, so you are unlikely to have them on hand, and available substitutes are likely to be less vivid (e.g., I use unflavored vinegar and oil, and juice from commercial pickled ginger; and I tend to dial back the spice quite a bit).

  2. Last time I made this, I was so disappointed with my sauce substitutes that I made a second batch of peanut sauce -- 1/3 c peanut butter, 1/3 c dark soy sauce, 1 tbs wine, 1 tsp garlic powder, some hot oil -- and added it on top of the previous sauce. I probably started with more noodles than the recipe called for, which may have been part of the problem, as the result was not over-sauced.

Log

  1. 2025-10-01: