Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles

I cannot believe how fast this summer is flying by! I've tried two new recipes recently that I loved and I'm excited to share them with you. :) You'll get the first recipe today and the next one will be coming soon!

This first recipe is a yummy Asian noodle recipe-- Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles. I modified the original recipe in a couple ways.  First, I added bean sprouts! From making Pad Thai I learned that you can add a ton of bean sprouts and when they cook in with everything else it is essentially impossible to distinguish them from the noodles. What this means is that you can get a large serving of what looks like just noodles, but it's actually half bean sprouts! More nutritious without you even noticing. Also, the original recipe called for udon noodles which I couldn't find so I used lo mein noodles and they worked great. So the lesson is that the exact noodle you use is flexible.

The black pepper sauce has lots of flavor but isn't overly spicy. If you are craving a big bowl of Asian noodle comfort, go for this. It comes together relatively quickly and it's quite tasty! 

Black Pepper Stir Fried Noodles

serves: 4

INGREDIENTS:
Black Pepper Sauce:

• 1/2 tablespoon black pepper (or freshly ground black peppercorns)-- [tablespoon is not a typo!]
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons mirin
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1-inch piece ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 6 tablespoons water

Stir Fried Noodles

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 8 ounces udon noodles (or lo mein noodles or rice noodles... even linguine if necessary)
• 1 bag of mung bean sprouts (mine was 12 ounces but  you could use a bit more or less depending on what you find)
• about 1/2 cup water
• 2-3 cups baby spinach leaves
• 1 pound extra firm tofu, drained, pressed, and cut into cubes (make sure to get out as much water as possible) [Note: You can substitute chicken if you prefer]
• sesame seeds for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and cook for just a few minutes. They should be soft but not at all done. They will continue cooking later with the rest of the ingredients and you don't want them to end up over-cooked. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
2. Place all sauce ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.
3. Heat 1 tablespoon of sesame oil in a large cast iron skillet (or nonstick skillet) over medium heat. Once hot and shining, add tofu. Cook tofu, turning occasionally, until all sides are lightly brown. This will probably take about 10 minutes. At this point add about 1 tablespoon of the sauce, 1 tablespoon of water, and 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil to the pan. Stir or shake the pan around to coat the tofu in the sauce. Because the pan is hot, the added sauce/water/oil should pretty much immediately sizzle and coat the tofu as you stir it around. Transfer the tofu to a bowl and set aside.
4. Heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon sesame oil in the skillet over medium heat. Once heated, add noodles, bean sprouts, and remaining black pepper sauce. Use tongs to help move the noodles and bean sprouts around so they are all getting coated in sauce. Cook, stirring frequently (you want to avoid the noodles/sprouts sticking to the bottom of the pan), for about 5-10 minutes until noodles and sprouts are cooked through and soft. Add small amounts of water as necessary to help everything cook and to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat.
5. Add the spinach leaves and cooked tofu and stir to combine. The spinach leaves should wilt pretty quickly from the heat of the noodles.
6. Serve topped with sesame seeds.

recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum