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Soba noodles and veggies with spicy peanut sauce.

Daniel and Max came over for dinner last night, and I used the meal I prepared as an excuse to try this crazy spicy peanut butter I’ve been fantasizing about. I also wanted to try out one of the recipes in the Teany Book. (I’ve written before about my intense love for Teany and their vegan turkey club sandwich in particular, as well as my goofball appearance in the book!)

Here’s what I put together combining the two…

Soba noodles and veggies with spicy peanut sauce (vegan & gluten-free*)
Serves 4

Spicy peanut sauce
2 tbsp The Heat Is On peanut butter from Peanut Butter & Co.**
2 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp sesame oil
4 tsp liquid amino acids***
2 tsp brown rice vinegar
2 cloves minced garlic

Veggies
4 large carrots, cut into thin strips (I used a peeler to make ribbons)
1 cup sugar snap peas, julienned
2 cups red cabbage, shredded
1 tbsp green onions, chopped

Noodles
9 oz dried buckwheat soba noodles*
2 tbsp sesame oil

4 tbsp crushed peanuts
lime wedges

Prepare the peanut sauce first in a big bowl. You can just whisk all of the ingredients together by hand, no need for a food processor or anything like that. When all of the veggies are prepped, put them in the bowl with the peanut sauce and stir everything up.

Follow the directions on the soba noodle package, taking care to not overcook them. With buckwheat soba, it’s important to rinse them very well in cold water as soon as they’ve finished cooking, otherwise you’ll wind up with something mushy and gross and unappealing. It’s OK that the noodles will be cold after rinsing! This dish actually tastes best cool/room temperature rather than hot. Toss the noodles with sesame oil.

Divide the noodles into bowls, put the veggies/sauce combination on top, and sprinkle with crushed peanuts. Serve with lime wedges, and enjoy with good friends and a nice view! We ate up on the roof of my apartment building, a spot I will never cease being grateful to have access to.

*Soba noodles are gluten-free IF they are 100% buckwheat, so check the package to make sure if this kind of thing matters to you. I use Eden brand. People with true gluten allergies should make sure the brand they buy is certified gluten-free, since contaminants can always be an issue.
**If you can’t find this fancy peanut butter, just use regular peanut butter with some chili sauce mixed in to taste.
***You can use gluten-free tamari instead of aminos, or soy sauce if you don’t need it to be gluten-free.

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48 Comments

  • Reply Jenna @ sweetfineday June 10, 2012 at 10:00 pm

    Yum! It’s cold soba season. I’ll have to try this

  • Reply Louise June 10, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    Looks yummy ^^ Have you tried naengmyun? Best noodle dish to eat in summer ever 😀 Most Korean restaurants start to offer it this time of year…

    • Anna @ D16 June 10, 2012 at 10:11 pm

      No, I haven’t! I wonder if there’s a place in NYC that makes it vegan.

  • Reply Deirdre June 10, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    Yum! Didn’t know that Soba noodles were gluten free (I’m new to it and not die-hard). Totally trying this this week.

    • Anna @ D16 June 10, 2012 at 10:19 pm

      Soba noodles are gluten-free IF they are 100% buckwheat, so check the package to make sure. I use Eden brand. (People with true gluten allergies should make sure the brand they buy is certified gluten-free, since contaminants can always be an issue.)

      I’ll amend the post with this info!

  • Reply Jules June 11, 2012 at 12:31 am

    Easily my favorite brand of peanut butter. Their peanut butter-banana blend is delicious.

  • Reply Monica June 11, 2012 at 2:55 am

    All of your food posts are always, mmmmmmmh (think chili). I am definitely trying this, but I don’t think I will have much luck finding the liquid amino acids here. Well, I did find something that translates the same, but there is picture of muscle packed body builder on the bottle. Don’t think that it is the same thing…

    • Anna @ D16 June 11, 2012 at 9:23 am

      Hah! I’m not sure what the stuff for bodybuilders is (I see the same thing here in vitamin shops)…I’m sure it’s the same molecular compound, but I have NO idea what form it’s in or if it’s something you’d want to put on your food. The kind I linked to is really popular with vegetarians and can be bought in just about any health food store over here. You can definitely just use soy sauce or tamari instead, that’s fine! The taste is very similar.

  • Reply Sid June 11, 2012 at 8:34 am

    Oh man, that peanut butter (and all the other ones that company makes) look AMAZING. These are the sorts of things that make me envious of Americans. You guys get all the cool stuff! I think a trip to NY is definitely in order soon.

    • Anna @ D16 June 11, 2012 at 9:24 am

      Peanut Butter & Co has a whole restaurant in NYC! It’s amazing…all kinds of PB sandwiches and shakes and stuff. We Americans do love our peanut butter. 🙂

  • Reply Polly June 11, 2012 at 9:28 am

    Looks delicious, but it’s that view I can’t get over! Wow.

  • Reply Dan | Manhattan Nest June 11, 2012 at 9:30 am

    SO YUMMY.

    Thank you for having us!

  • Reply Remi June 11, 2012 at 9:50 am

    That looks delicious and I love the simplicity of the recipe. It’s just about 9:30 in the morning and I am craving this so badly, I might not make it through the day! I love the concept of spicy peanut butter, and I’m intrigued by the fact that they have an entire restaurant! Yet another reason to visit NYC!

  • Reply Chris June 11, 2012 at 12:15 pm

    Braggs is found in regular grocery stores where I live on the west coast, as well as health food stores. I have been using it for many years and this post just clued me in about the aminos, duh! Ha ha.

    This looks absolutely delicious!!

  • Reply Francine June 11, 2012 at 1:06 pm

    This looks great. I can never seem to get peanut sauce right. It always comes out kind of…INTENSE PEANUT BUTTER TASTE. And it overwhelms the entire dish. I’ve gotta work on it.

    • Anna @ D16 June 11, 2012 at 1:35 pm

      Francine, I know exactly what you mean. If you use the 1/2 tbsp per serving rule of thumb, though, I think you’ll find that’s enough. I know that seems like a really tiny amount, but peanut butter has (as you’ve noticed!) a pretty intensely rich flavor. IMO, this recipe has just the right amount of peanutty-ness that it still feel light and fresh. 🙂

  • Reply hungryandfrozen June 11, 2012 at 2:53 pm

    Spicy Peanut Butter? Sigh, I canNOT wait to come to America. Thanks for sharing this recipe, I have a limitless capacity for anything involving noodles and peanuts. Stunning shot of the bridge, too!

  • Reply Katie B. of HousewifeHowTos.com June 12, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    Oh, yum! I adore Soba and the spicy peanut butter sauce sounds delicious. Can’t wait to make this. In the meantime, I’m Pinning it. Thanks!

  • Reply PhillyLass June 12, 2012 at 7:13 pm

    This looks amazing– and if it’s even in the ballpark of awesomeness that your vegan chili recipe occupies, it’s destined to be in heavy rotation in my kitchen. Are amino acids super healthy and worth buying even if I don’t have gluten issues? I’ve never heard of them. They sound more like a dietary supplement than a cooking ingredient so I’m not sure what I’d do with them aside from this dish.

    • Anna @ D16 June 12, 2012 at 7:38 pm

      Amino acids are the “building blocks” of proteins. As a person with a completely vegan diet, my preference is to get my proteins from vegetable sources and to eat them in combination with whole grains. I would not personally recommend relying on a source like Bragg’s as a nutritional supplement—it’s high in sodium just like soy sauce, and it contains the same free glutimates as well. I see it as a seasoning, no more and no less. I LOVE the taste of Bragg’s, and I think it works really well in dishes like this that have a complexity of flavors and spices. I think it’s worth buying a bottle just to see what you think!

  • Reply simone June 14, 2012 at 4:57 am

    Over here (in Holland) we call this Gado-Gado with Bami. (Gado is vegetable, gado-gado is vegetables, Bami is noodles) An Inonesian dish. Except with Gado Gado you don’t stir the sauce through but drizzel it over, so every bite will have it’s own different flavour. We can buy the sauce in a “just add water” kind of form. We also add, cooked (cold, leftover) potatoes (very delicious) tauge and cucumber, broccoli or cauliflower is also nice, it is a delicious way to reuse leftover vegetables on a summer day. When you buy fries at any fry shop you can always get them with this peanut-sauce as well, very nice with mayo, they call this mix patatje-oorlog or in english “war-fries”.

    • Anna @ D16 June 14, 2012 at 11:22 am

      That all sounds delicious, Simone!

    • Simone June 15, 2012 at 6:18 am

      P.S. Come to think about it, if Obama ever ends up coming to dinner at your place, you can serve this!!! He used to live in Indonesia so he will probably love it.
      On another (food) note: I tried your scrambled tofu, but up until I added the yeast-stuff it smelled delicious and then it was quite, well not nice really. The kids were upstairs in the bath and I heard them ask each other what that smell was (that never happens). The stuff I bought is a yeastextract with salt (description on the packing, it also says it is good for your b-vitamin levels).
      Thanks in advance, have a wonderful day!!!

    • Anna @ D16 June 15, 2012 at 8:25 am

      Do you mean Isa Moskowitz’s tofu scramble recipe? I don’t think I’ve ever posted a recipe here, but I have linked to hers a few times. Anyway, no, “yeast extract with salt” (like Marmite or Vegemite, I’m assuming?) is definitely NOT the right thing. The recipe (assuming it was Isa’s) calls for nutritional yeast. Totally different thing. I just Googled “nutritional yeast Netherlands,” and it seems it’s called “edelgist vlokken” over there. Here’s a picture of a container: http://www.drogistvoordeel.nl/product.php?id_product=32284

    • Simone June 16, 2012 at 1:18 pm

      Thanks a lot, I wonder why I did not think of that (I saw the jar, saw the word yeast and thought you ment that)? It would be a shame to let the appreciation of a good recipe suffer due to errors like this.
      Have you ever tried tempeh? You have to learn to like it but then it is delicious (fried in the shape of thin french fries with a sprinkle of salt hmmmmm -possibly some peanut sauce to dip them in…, (almost dinnertime over here)).
      Have a wonderful weekend!!!

  • Reply brighton June 15, 2012 at 12:28 am

    I’m dying over that VIEW!!! Omg so beautiful!!!!! love love love

  • Reply Michelle June 15, 2012 at 12:43 am

    Made this tonight and it was great – Thanks for sharing the recipe.

  • Reply Latrina June 16, 2012 at 3:05 am

    Yum! That looks absolutely delicious. I’ve never had soba noodles before… but now I am quite interested! I’m always up for trying something new.

    And by the way, that view is amazing. <3

  • Reply Nine Photography | Dallas Wedding Photographers June 16, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    This looks INCREDIBLE!!!! Thanks for posting it. Will try this weekend. 🙂

  • Reply liz June 22, 2012 at 4:47 am

    We had a version of this for dinner last night and both loved it. (There are left overs for lunch and I’m already looking forward to eating another bowl.)

    The spicy peanut butter looks amazing. I looked for something similar here in the UK but couldn’t see anything. I did find a company that imports The Heat Is On and I convinced myself that it was sensible to buy an imported jar of peanut butter online… only to find it was out of stock. Ha! I fear I’m building a list of peanut butter things I want to try when I’m next in New York as Peanut Butter & Co has been added to the lovely peanut butter cups I think you mentioned ages and ages ago.

    Thanks so much for posting the recipe.

  • Reply ///fantabulously June 24, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    I’m getting hungry just looking at the picture. It looks absolutely delicious! Thank you for inspiring me cook during this heatwave.

  • Reply Heather June 26, 2012 at 11:28 pm

    Hi Anna,

    This is unrelated to this post, but I think you’ve mentioned being a Parks & Rec fan before. I just saw that Nick Offerman (aka Ron Swanson) is going to be a guest speaker at a Fine Woodworking event at SUNY New Paltz in August: http://finewoodworkinglive.com/ How cool!

    If you’re not a Parks & Rec fan – nevermind. 🙂

  • Reply Simone June 30, 2012 at 7:06 pm

    Hi Anna;
    How would you like this:
    http://bloesem.blogs.com/bloesem/2012/06/i-need-your-help-.html
    You’re the only person I know in New York so of course I thought of you (LOL).
    Have a wonderful weekend!!!

  • Reply ebony July 5, 2012 at 10:58 pm

    where have you gone?

  • Reply Carmen July 6, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    Yesss. I love finding vegan recipes. This sounds quite spectacular. I adore Peanut Butter & Co. But I’ve never even heard of that spicy peanut butter before. Thanks for the inspiration!

  • Reply .amanda. July 12, 2012 at 12:06 pm

    this looks really yummy. I am going to make it for my vegan friend Brittany for the next time we have our rooftop wine and dominoes night! thanks for sharing…

  • Reply Dana July 16, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    This looks really good. I know what I’ll be making next week! Thanks for sharing…beautiful blog btw:)

  • Reply bicocacolors July 17, 2012 at 6:30 pm

    it’s looks absolutely delicious!
    thank for posting it!

  • Reply Lan July 18, 2012 at 4:43 am

    OMG,OMG, i like spicy food!!! Yummyyyyyyyy…..

  • Reply l July 19, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    Okay, this is waaaaay late — but i JUST made these noodles for dinner and can certify that a) recipe is really, really easy and b) it IS delicious! Sweet Thang is not normally a pasta (of any sort) fan, but he snarfed up almost two helpings, between reminding me how good it tasted. WIN.

    And a huge thanks to you, Anna, for sharing.

    L

  • Reply Viktoriya C. July 20, 2012 at 10:02 pm

    Where’d you go, Anna? we miss you ♥

  • Reply Where did ya go? I hope some place grand? July 22, 2012 at 2:04 am

    Missing you and all your blog insights. But if you are taking a vaca, good for you!

  • Reply J July 23, 2012 at 3:01 pm

    Are you ever going to update again? 🙁

  • Reply Anna July 24, 2012 at 10:30 pm

    Please come back!

  • Reply Cath W July 26, 2012 at 9:05 am

    All my all Morrissey loving friends are scattered about the world and I need to share with someone who understands………………… I’m off to see The Man on Saturday night in his home town.
    I’m sick with happiness 🙂

  • Reply Rebecca Gallant July 27, 2012 at 1:08 pm

    Anna, hope you are ok and whatever you are occupied with is bringing you joy. Missing your posts.

  • Reply Michelle August 3, 2012 at 12:59 pm

    Hi Anna, I was wondering if you have any recommendations for a good vegan cook book or recipe website? I am considering going vegan, or close to it, and everything you post always looks so delicious! I’ve been a bit intimidated because people always say its so time consuming or expensive to eat a vegan diet, but knowing how busy you are, I figure there must be a reasonable way to do it. I’m a full time student and I work nights at a diner where the only veggie option is iceberg lettuce and unripe tomato on white bread toast! I really do want to try and go to a more vegetable based diet though, both for health and environmental/ethical reasons. I just need to find some easy, healthy meals I can throw together at midnight. I would really appreciate any advice you have.

    • Anna @ D16 August 3, 2012 at 1:55 pm

      Hi Michelle, I honestly don’t use recipes all that often, but the cookbook I refer to most often is Appetite For Reduction (I wrote a review of it here). I know there are tons of raw (and not raw!) vegan websites out there that are really good, but I really do tend to just throw things together very simply. Once you know how to do basic things like make a kale salad or cook up some quinoa, it’s all very easy and affordable. (Juicing does tend to be costly, though, because you’re turning massive amounts of vegetables into concentrated liquid!)

      I know a lot of people love Oh She Glows

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