Takeout with the Tos #16

There's no real takeout menu this week. I just wanted to write about one dish. My mother made a version of this growing up. The Chinese literally translates to "cold noodles." We ate it in the summers because it's eaten cold. Growing up, our sauce mix was peanut butter and oil. I remember my mother pouring the oil into the bowl of peanut butter and then my job would be to mix it together. She probably added some green onions to the mix and that was our meal. 

I've never made this dish until now. It was "too simple" and often overlooked. But after our Asia trip and two weeks of not having to cook or meal plan, I kind of forgot how to do it. I didn't actually forget, but my brain wasn't used to working so hard when it came to planning meals anymore after taking a two week vacation. I got a bit lazy. But in my laziness, I remembered simplicity.

This is a fancier version of noodles compared to the one we ate growing up. My sauce includes peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, neutral oil, and some Chinese barbecue sauce. I had mentioned this sauce in my very first post this year. 

This photo is from the second time I made it for my family. I had shredded carrots, sliced spam, and julienned cucumber. This would be what I call a "fancier" version of this dish. Everyone in my family loves it when I make this so it will probably be a rotational staple in some form or another, especially in the warmer months. 

Other potential vegetables to mix in or rotate for variety: broccoli, spinach, spiraled vegetables, kale

Other potential proteins to mix in: scrambled eggs, grilled chicken/pork/beef, ground chicken/pork/beef, shrimp, grilled fish

I'm listing these out both as a way to share ideas for others but to catalog them for myself so if I need recipe inspirations, I can look up this post. Also, I meant for this to be a simple, fast meal to pull together, hence the spam. Other mix-in options may not be as fast or easily prepared, but could still work well for a tasty dish. 

I love the versatility of Asian flavors because I can sub so many things. I think this sauce would work for almost all combinations of the above mentioned ingredients. It's true that certain spices or sauce flavors would be better for certain ingredients, but I don't think any combination of the above would taste "bad" together. 

Cold Noodles: $8.99/serving at 6 servings: $53.94

Tax: $4.45

Grand Total: $58.39