Deep dark January is soup season, I know. You're not likely searching the pantry for ingredients to make a refreshing bowl of cold noodles.
Fair enough. You can ignore me now - but bookmark this page. When the sun is once again setting at 9:00 PM and all your fans are out of storage you will still need to come up with dinner plans. For my part, I make these peanut butter noodles at least once a week regardless of the season and, were I ever to stop, there's a 50/50 chance my wife would leave me. I did not anticipate this, but my relationship now rests on a noodle foundation. And you know what? Rightly so. These are some good noodles.
The recipe in question is from First Generation by Frankie Gaw. Begin by mixing peanut butter, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and honey. Cook some ramen noodles of your choice, drain and chill in ice water. Drain again before dressing with peanut sauce. Core toppings are cucumber and sliced egg (I season mine with a bit of sugar and sesame oil), but the riffs are endless - cilantro, đồ chua, fried tofu, grilled pork belly, chili crisp. It's easy to get creative to make this a lighter lunch or a filling dinner. Unless you don't like peanut butter. In that case, you're on your own.
But you do have other options. I've not yet cooked anything of Gaw's that wasn't excellent. Tomato egg noodles, chicken dumplings with fennel and apple, black sesame pumpkin mochi bread, sweet corn ice cream, fried chicken cutlets with orange-honey-miso glaze - most of these can be found on his website too: Little Fat Boy https://littlefatboy.com/ I also recommend giving him a follow on your SNS of choice. And he currently lives in Seattle so, in addition to recipe reels, you'll occasionally get some local-ish food recommendations.
Check this book out. You have nothing to lose and you might find something so delicious that it becomes a permanent, even required, perhaps even non-negotiable, part of your dinner rotation. I would know.
