SINGAPORE NOODLES

My husband amazed me by making the most delicious dinner, ready for me when I got home from work one day. He has made it several times since that fateful night and everyone gives it raving reviews. This dish is better than anything I have ever ordered at an Asian restaurant. I haven’t trained my husband yet to take pictures of his cooking steps so you only get to see the finished product!

The original recipe can be found at “The Curious Chickpea”: VEGAN SINGAPORE NOODLES. It was modified to remove oil and use ingredients he had on hand and preferred.

Why does food taste so much better when someone else makes it?
"Some researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have an answer. While we’re making our own food, we anticipate the taste and continuous exposure to the food throughout cooking makes us less hungry for it. So, seeing the food being made makes it less desirable to us. When someone else makes food for us, we haven’t ‘pre-consumed’ the food by watching it be made. Additionally, throughout the cooking process, we are constantly smelling, and maybe tasting, the food that we’re making. The repeat exposure to the smell changes the way that we taste the final product because our sense of smell is connected to our sense of taste. When someone else makes food for us, the taste is more surpriseful, and possibly more delicious, because we haven’t been exposed to the smell as much." Info source

SINGAPORE NOODLES

Ingredients

10 oz uncooked rice vermicelli (mai fun), or noodles of choice (used brown rice maifun noodles)

Sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce (used reduced sodium tamari)

2 Tablespoon shaoxing chinese cooking wine, or cooking sherry (used cooking sherry)

1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil (replaced with 1/2 TBSP tahini)

1 teaspoon agave nectar or coconut sugar (replaced with 1 tsp maple syrup)

1 Tablespoon curry powder or to taste

1/4 teaspoon white pepper

3 garlic cloves, crushed or minced

4 green chiles, minced, more or less to taste, de-seeded for less heat (replaced with a 4 oz can diced chiles)

Vegetables:

1 tbsp oil (did not use)

1/2 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced in half moons

15 sugar snap peas, thinly sliced on bias

1 small carrot, julienned

1/2 red bell pepper, julienned

2 cups shredded cabbage (used about 1/2 small head of cabbage)

scallions, for garnish, optional (recommended, he used)

lime wedges, to serve

Instructions from the blog

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and set aside.

2. In a small bowl or a liquid measuring cup mix together the sauce ingredients: soy sauce, chinese wine, toasted sesame oil, agave nectar, curry powder, white pepper, garlic, and chilies. Set aside.

3. Heat a wok over high heat. Add the oil and onion when hot and fry 1 1/2 - 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until the onion is charred and soft.

4. Add the cabbage and cook for about 2 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until it is wilted and lightly charred. Add the sugar snap peas, carrots, and bell pepper and cook for 1 - 1 1/2 minutes until the vegetables have charred a little.

5. Add the noodles and the sauce and fry for about 2 minutes, stirring constantly to distribute sauce and prevent sticking.

6. Squeeze fresh lime wedges over the noodles to serve and garnish with sliced scallions or additional minced chiles if desired.

What my husband did:

1. Made a double batch of sauce. Did not add the canned chiles to the sauce.

2. Did not use oil when cooking the vegetables. Dry sauteed the onion, peas, carrot, bell pepper, and cabbage together adding a splash of water if wanted to stick.

3. Added re-hydrated soy curls (soaked 1/2 cup of dry soy curls in water per package instruction. Drained. Squeezed out excess water). Tossed with the vegetables when they were nearly done and cooked until heated.

4. Added the canned chiles when added the cooked pasta and sauce. Tossed and cooked until all heated.