noodles | Itty Bitty City Kitchen

When it’s hot in New York, I sometimes start running out of ideas for dinners.

I want something that doesn’t involve standing over a stove forever.

I also want something that’s light, but still satisfying and filling.

For some reason, that leads me to noodles.

I love brown rice noodles. They cook in minutes and they are so versatilei. could happily just throw some scallions and sesame oil on them an call it a night.

But

1. That would only feed me.

2. That would only feed me tonight

3. That would leave me with a hungry husband

4. That would leave me with a hungry me AND a hungry husband come lunch tomorrow.

I don’t know about you, but when it’s hot, I like my cooking adventure to give me more than one meal.

So. A noodle-based dish that will leave us with leftovers.

I started googling and found a couple variations of deconstructed egg rolls or egg rolls in a bowl. I took some inspiration from those recipes and added a few of my own twists.

For this recipe you will need

8 oz brown rice noodles ( I love Annie Chun’s) or you can sub for brown rice
1 white onion, diced
1 pound ground pork
1 bag shredded cabbage (the dole coleslaw mix is always in my fridge)
2 shredded carrots (you can leave these out. I had them on hand)
scallions, chopped (up to you how much)
1 tbsp garlic chili sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice vinegar

The last four ingredients I’d say measure to taste. If you like really spicy, feel free to go heavier on the garlic chili sauce.

Get started with some sesame oil and the white onion in a skillet over medium heat.

When the onions are translucent, add the pork and brown, strirring occasionally.

Once the pork is brown, add the scallions and the garlic chili sauce. If you like, you can reserve some scallions for a garnish at the end.

When the scallions have wilted a bit, add in the carrots and the cabbage, stirring so the cabbage begins to wilt.

Add the soy sauce and rice vinegar and taste for seasoning. You may wish to add more soy or sesame (or even more garlic chili sauce, you heat seekers, you.)

This can sit for a bit while you boil your water and cook your noodles or rice to package directions. When the noodles are done, drain and stir into the pot of egg roll mixture.

Serve up in big bowls with a sprinkling of scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil.

We had a fairly large amount of this for dinner and a container each for lunch the next day.

I’d call that a win.

I love pasta.

In any form.

And I mean any form.

Think beyond Italian here.

A nice big bowl of noodles with vegetables in a rich peanut buttery and sesame and sauce?

I’m all in.

I recently discovered soba noodles. Let me tell you, they are your best friend if you need to get dinner on the table fast. They cook in like two minutes and they are great hot right away or cold as leftovers the next day. Soba noodles are super thin buckwheat noodles that provide vitamin b, manganese and can help lower cholesterol.

Healthy little noodle!

I pile mine high with vegetables and whip up a quick little sesame sauce to toss everything with.

For the sauce you will need creamy peanut butter, tahini, rice wine vinegar and soy sauce

Mix together 1 teaspoon of each ingredient in a large bowl. Start with a teaspoon and then taste. You may want more sesame than peanut, or more vinegar than the salt from the soysauce, so adjust accordingly.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and toss in some broccoli. You can use whatever vegetables you wish really, but I’m partial to broccoli and cabbage.

cook the broccoli for a minute or so. You want it to be crispy still.

Use a scoop to remove the broccoli and leave the water behind. Toss the broccoli into the bowl with your sauce. It’s okay if some water goes in too. It will thin out the sauce and help you coat the broccoli.