Cold Noodle Sesame Veggie Bowl
February 27, 2012 Mondays always get a bad rap.
But if one thing can change the lameness of a Monday, it’s food. There’s not much food can’t fix.
And if there is one thing you should make this week, it’s this noodle salad.
Specifically, the sesame dressing.
Today was a little crazy.
Moving a blog + redesigning the entire thing by yourself is quite the challenge. I’m changing hosts + platforms. Bye bye Wordpress.
At about 2 o’clock today, I realized the majority of our fridge was taken up by beer and leftover pizza. While that doesn’t sound all that bad, it’s not going to get us through the week.
Off to the store to stock up and try to create a recipe + photograph it before sunset. I haven’t been to the grocery store on a Sunday in….I don’t even remember how long. And now I remember why.
SO.many.people!!!!
I was completely unprepared with no list or meal plan, and shockingly, not one single coupon.
I came out with food for at least 3 recipes ideas, plus the weekly essentials. Not bad, not bad.
For today, my goal was to create a meal in less than 30 minutes, packed with flavor, and eaten from a single bowl. The sun was trailing off, and work was calling my name. No time to waste!
I was thinking Asian-style, but didn’t know where it was going to lead. I’ve done a few fried rice recipes lately, wasn’t feeling stir fry, and wanted to try making something new.
Enter, the cold noodle salad.
This recipe makes quite a few servings, which is another Monday bonus. You can eat it for dinner, pack it up for lunch and then some.
While I absolutely adore these thin brown rice noodles and love the crisp veggies, the dressing is where it’s at.
the.best.dressing.i’ve.ever.made. ever.
It has a silky smooth texture, is savory but slightly sweet, and finishes with a bit of a tang.
Pour it on a cold noodle salad, a leafy green salad, sautéed veggies, baked tofu, or anything else you can imagine. Except maybe your oatmeal.
Cold Noodle Sesame Veggie Bowl [serves ~6]
- 8oz package angel hair Asian brown rice noodles
- 1 large red pepper, thinly sliced
- 3 large carrots, thinly sliced
- 2c snow peas
- 1c bean sprouts
- 1/2c green onion, thinly sliced
- peanuts + black sesame seeds [garnish]
- Prepare a pot of water to steam the snow peas + carrots.
- Slice the red pepper, carrots + green onion.
- Add only the snap peas + carrots to your steamer basket, with already boiling water, and cover for 3-6 minutes, until slightly tender.
- Rinse until cold and drain well.
- Prepare the brown rice noodles according to package directions, then rinse with cold water until fully chilled and drain well. [Mine only take 1-2min of cook time.]
- Place noodles in a large bowl, and pull apart using a fork.
- Toss in the steamed veggies, red pepper, bean sprouts + green onion [or plate them on top of the noodles…whichever you prefer].
- Plate and top with sesame seeds, peanuts, and/or more green onion if desired, then pour the dressing on each serving. [It was hard to toss the dressing with all of the noodles and vegetables, and was easier to pour on individually.]
Sesame Oil Dressing
- 1/2c unrefined toasted sesame oil
- 2t honey
- 4t tamari/soy sauce
- 2T rice vinegar
- 1.5T tahini
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2t brown mustard
- In a blender, magic bullet, or with an immersion blender, combine all ingredients and blend until smooth.
- Store in a sealed container, in the fridge, for up to 1 week.
notes: Toasted sesame oil is crucial to the flavor of the dressing. Do not sub out for another oil. If you can’t find tahini, use a natural [the drippy kind] cashew or peanut butter. Customize with any veggies or noodles you like. Sub maple syrup instead of honey to make vegan.
Any delicious Monday plans?
I plan on diving into a bowl of this around noon.
Ashley
asian-inspired, noodles, peppers, sesame oil, snow peas, soy sauce in entree, gluten free, sauces + dressings, vegan 
Reader Comments (69)
What's crazy is that last week I made noodles in a stir fry and havent edited the pics yet but have an uncooked noodle bundle just like your opening shot. I took it in the middle of the day when the light was good and they weren't cooked yet..the actual dinner hour pics with the cooked noodles...well, dinner hour lighting prevailed.
Your food looks awesome.
Love it! I might make this today.
So, what platform are you moving too and why? Too nosy? :)
A must try recipe ... I have been on the road for one week and still have a week and a half to go ... I am adding this recipe to my to do's when I get back! Thank you for the Tahini subsittution!
I've really been into cold noodle salads lately. I've been loving cold spaghetti squash (okay not really a noodle) in my salads. And anything with sesame dressing is always a win with me.
I'm always lost when I go to the store without a list. I just throw whatever I want into the cart, which never turns out well.
Love this! I make a similar dressing that I use in an Asian slaw, so good. Photos are gorgeous as always :)
omg i'm totally making this tonight!
and sundays at the store? yeah, i wake up early to go because i can't handle the people. yikes!
Cold noodle dishes means that summer is right around the corner, right?
I'm looking forward to trying your awesomesauce!
I also had to make a trip to the grocery store yesterday, but thankfully I missed the after-church crowd and my sanity remained in tact. There was almost a scuffle over the last mixed greens + herbs bag of salad though. ALMOST.
I've always been curious about those big bundles of noodles in the store and how they work in a dish. Looks so great, especially the dressing I have to say. I'm thoroughly addicted to tahini so this looks perfect right now.
Yum! I love peanut noodles, but always seem to mess up the dressing. I love that this one has only 7 easy ingredients!
Grammar and punctuation note: Days of the week, when plural, do not have apostrophes.
"Mondays" -- yes. "Monday's" - nope.
Mmmm, that looks wonderful! (not that the beer n' leftover pizza sounded bad either)
This bowl looks so fresh..love all the veggies!
Oh my, this looks delicious! I am not dreading this Monday as much as usual because of my food that I have planned for the day, sad but oh so true ;)
I have never had sesame dressing, your salad looks really good, I am getting hungry!
Mondays suck. But your recipe does not! This looks sooo good! I can pretty much taste it just by looking at the ingredient list!
I'm attempting to grill and bbq tofu tonight for dinner. I've had it pressing all day, so I'm hoping that the texture is super amazing. But, I've never grilled tofu OR served it with BBQ sauce. We'll see how it goes. At least I know that the side dish (roasted cauliflower) will be awesome!
mmmm BOWLS! We must be on the same wavelength lately. :) I can't get enough. I'm seriously thinking about making an entire chapter in my book just on sweet and savoury bowls, lol. I think I have a problem... This looks to die for, especially that dressing. I just made a recipe a couple weeks ago for the book using these rice noodles (after trying them in AZ)...they are a new fav.
I agree Angela. Anything in a bowl is so comforting! Ashley, how are your chopstick skills ;)?
I'm pretty impressed with your grocery shopping skills. If I go in with no plan/coupons I come out with enough food for about 18 and most of it cannot even be made into meals. Haha.
This looks incredible (as always!).
This looks absolutely phenomenal. Thanks for sharing! I have been looking for a way to mix things up and this looks right up my alley.
OMG this stuff is so good.. i had a little bowl yesterday.. and then immediately had another little bowl.... sooooooooooooo goooooooooooooooooood!!
I've always wondered how to use the crazy bunch of noodles I see in the Asian food section. I've had a peanut sesame concoction on my brain lately with soba noodles that I've been wanting to try out, this is giving me inspiration :)
Curious what platform you're moving to and why...hope you'll do a recap post of that once the move is done. Good luck with it all, I imagine it would be a huge headache!
Oh my gosh, thank you for the catch! That was definitely a late-night typo!
I LOVE YOUR NEW BOWLS!! And that stuff that's in them...heaven help me it looks insane. Putting it on our menu for the week.
Thanks for the recipe it looks great!
Wasn't clear from the directions whether the red pepper is steamed or not.
The first part says prepare the water to steam red pepper (which I've never done but sounds interesting), while the later part says only steam the snow peas.
Clarification please! Thanks!
Thank you for the catch! It's carrots + snow peas only. Going to fix now!
The sesame dressing sounds wonderful. Sesame oil is one of my favorite ingredients - it smells amazing and adds such a lovely nutty flavor to dishes.
I was thinking, "wow, someone is observant!" Then I realized who left the comment. ;) xo
I love those noodles!! I used to love soba noodles before going GF, but then I tried the 100% buckwheat soba noodles and wasn't a huge fan. I'm switching to Square Space, which is an all-in-one host + platform. I was mainly looking for a new host, but LOVE how SS is set up. SO much more straight forward than Wordpress, but there are less options like widgets and things unless you can code them yourself. Their customer service is top notch!
YAY! Glad you liked!
You're welcome!
My chopstick skills are TERRIBLE. Oh man!
Haha, yes! Love the 1 bowl meals!
Grilled tofu is amazing, especially BBQ'd. I have a tutorial on grilling tofu if you haven't seen it. The most important thing is having the heat high enough and greasing the heck out of the grill grates! It shouldn't stick at all!
That's not sad at all!
this is inspiring and sounds freaking good ! thank you !
I don't think I'll be going on a Sunday again anytime soon! Glad you made it out alive!
I'm not done with winter yet [can't get enough snowboarding in!] but I'm definitely ready for summer food!
Thanks Gabby!
I'm moving to Square Space. It's an all in one platform + host. I was mainly looking for a new host, but found SS which does both. My old host was telling me I needed to move to a dedicated server, which costs a LOT, but SS works differently and costs much less. It's way more user friendly, completely customizable, and you don't have to go around searching for "themes" which I HATED with WP. There were a few more reasons, but that is most of it.
This recipe looks fantastic! And something I could make even with the ingredients I can find here in Sweden... which doesn't happen often. Happy Monday to you :-)
I could think of many uses for this dressing!!
Yum! I'm on a 40 day fast off processed foods, and this recipe looks like a welcome diversion from my rice and bean bowls. I'll probably eat it warm though for now. I'm shivering in my snuggie! :)
I found it- and I'm on it! Just sent the link to my husband and told him to prepare for it. And, you just gave me an idea for my blog post (and title) tomorrow. Ha!
This would cheer any Monday blues!! The dressing sure does look silky smooth. Excited for the new site!!
I don't know how I got here, but I've spent a good chunk of the morning reading the Edible Perspective! (except for the time I went to the grocery store for ingredients for this noodle dish)
Thanks for a beautiful and tasty blog! So I'm off to make Quinoa so I have some on hand and ready for a lunch tomorrow, and sesame noodles for tonight.
Yup, I'm going to take shots of that dressing.
I moved to Squarespace and love it! It's more expensive, but customization and ease of designing the site was totally worth it to me. Although I DO hate the comment section (no easy replies)--they really need to get on that already. I'm curious to see how you will set yours up??
I tried Disqus--but it won't recognize my previous comments.
That dressing sounds incredible! The whole salad does! I had planned on going the tex-mex route for a quinoa salad for lunches this week, but perhaps I need to switch to an asian route and use this dressing! Lovely photos, of course.