Today’s special: Vegetarian Peanut Noodle Salad

Welcome to another edition of The Caucus Cafe, a weekly series featuring recipes, food discussions and a place to ask for help with your own “kitchen conundrum.” Everyone has to eat. More importantly food is a great way to bring people together and that’s always a wonderful thing. Today our menu highlights a vegetarian peanut noodle salad.

I love this dish. It’s easy to prepare, delicious with a little kick and it travels well if you need pot luck fare. Ming Tsai made this dish on the FoodNetwork many moons ago and I’ve been making it ever since. The original recipe calls for creamy peanut butter, but I prefer chunky - especially if I don’t have any peanuts to sprinkle on top. It can be served cold, or at room temperature.

Want something a little hardier? Add some shredded chicken or pork, shrimp, or tofu. Voila! You have a main course.

Vegetarian Peanut Noodle Salad
Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup chunky peanut butter
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/3 cup rice or red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon red chile flakes (or more if you prefer a kick)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon coarse ground coriander
• 2 tablespoons naturally brewed soy sauce
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 pound spaghetti, cooked and refreshed
• 1 English cucumber, halved and 1/8-inch slices
• 1 red bell pepper, julienned
• 1 bunch scallions, sliced
• 1/2 cup chopped roasted (salted) peanuts for garnish

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, sesame oil, vinegar, chile, sugar, Dijon, coriander and soy until smooth. Whisk in the canola oil. In a large bowl, toss dressing with the pasta, cucumbers, bell pepper and scallions. Check for seasoning. Plate in large serving bowl. Garnish with peanuts.

That’s it for now folks. We’ll see you again next Wednesday with another Caucus Cafe special. Same time. Same Channel. Please come back.

In the mean time, please feel free to share a recipe or a culinary custom with your fellow 99%ers.