Vegetarian Peanut Noodles

This is an utterly delicious vegetarian friendly family meal and you can use absolutely any vegetables you have to hand for it - and especially your family's favourites. 

If you like a satay style dish, this is for you and it is super versatile so use whatever you have to hand to make it work.

We are in worrying times right now, and a lot of ingredients are either not available or have become like gold dust but the heart of this dish is in just x4 store cupboard ingredients; peanut butter, coconut milk, soy sauce and noodles or long, thin pasta as I have used here. You can honestly use any vegetables you like and if you're a fan of spicy food, add a red chilli (chilli oil, or a chilli flakes) to crank up the heat, but this is very much kid-friendly for my household. 

This dish could also be improved with a few coriander leaves or even snipped chives - but in my haste to eat today, I forgot to add these. 

We have to be adaptable to what we have and so I will try to share a few store cupboard recipes in the hope it might help someone that is fridge foraging and wondering what to make with the contents on their cupboards. Where you see an ingredient that you don't have and you're not sure what you could replace it with, please contact me and I'll make a suggestion.

Vegetarian Peanut Noodles

Here's how:

• 300g egg noodles (spaghetti, linguine or tagliatelle would also work!)
• 1 garlic clove (Very Easy Garlic, Garlic Infused Oil or a pinch of Garlic Salt)
• 2cm piece of fresh ginger (use ground if you can't get fresh)
• 1 large carrot
• 1 courgette
• Half a head of broccoli
• 1 pepper 
• 1 tbsp soy sauce (if you don't stock this as a last resort you could use Worcestershire sauce, just reduce slightly)
• 1 tsp Chinese Five Spice (you could use a pinch each of Cayenne Pepper, cinnamon, ground cloves if you don't stock Five Spice)
• 1 tsp sesame oil (any vegetable or nut oil would suffice)
• 2 heaped tbsp peanut butter
• 1/2 tin of coconut milk (you could use a cream, creme fraiche or an almond milk)
• 1 tsp Sriracha 
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 lime (use a lemon if you can't get a lime, or even a drop of a Jif Lemon)

Firstly put a pot of salted water on to boil. Once brought up to boil, cook the noodles.

In the meantime, place the sesame oil into a wok on a medium heat.

Mince the garlic and finely chop the ginger and add to the wok with the soy sauce. 

Cut or break the broccoli into florets and add to the wok.

Peel and then cut the carrot into thin matchsticks, slice the pepper and add both to the wok.

Cut the courgette in half, and then cut into small slices and add to the pan. 

Once all of the vegetables have cooked for a moment, add the peanut butter and a drop of sriracha and use a wooden spatula to move around and break down a little. 

Now add the coconut milk and give a good stir.

Once the noodles or pasta are cooked, use tongs or a spaghetti server to lift into the peanutty vegetables and give a good stir to ensure the noodles get a good coating. 

Dish up onto a big bowl or a platter, squeeze over the juice of a lime and scatter over the sesame seeds. Enjoy!