National Noodles Day: Spicy peanut butter noodle to zucchini zoodles; delicious noodle recipes to enjoy

National Noodles Day celebrates one of the cheapest and tastiest comfort foods in the world. Here are 4 delicious recipes to enjoy.

Once considered a luxury, noodles have become one of the cheapest comfort foods that can even be made in a matter of minutes. The earliest noodles dated back to 2000 B.C. in China and was made of millets. Before the invention of its instant version, eating noodles was considered a luxury. In Japan, noodles made an entry as early as 800AD during the Heian period, but they became popular only in the late 1800s. While noodles were initially popular in China and Japan, toady thousands of its diverse versions are eaten across the world in different shapes, flavours and grains. There is a noodle for every occasion, and if you are wondering what to have on weekends, we have some recipes for you. (Also read: The cultural and culinary rise of ramen)

1. Spicy peanut butter noodle

(Recipe by Chef Sagar Bajaj, Epitome Lower Parel)

Ingredients (for 1 serving)

½ cup noodle- cooked

2 tbsp peanut butter sauce

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 tsp garlic, chopped

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp chili oil

2 tbsp spring onion, chopped

¼ cup bell pepper, julienne cut

¼ cup broccoli, blanched

¼ cup Napa cabbage, roughly cut

2 tbsp peanut, toasted and crushed

Method

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions.
• Heat up the wok over the medium heat. Add cooking oil, garlic, ginger and sauce. Sauté for 1-2 minutes.
• Add peanut sauce, bell pepper, broccoli & Napa cabbage cook for 1 minute on high heat, add udon noodle and tossed well.
• Served with crushed peanuts, chopped spring onions, drizzled chili oil and enjoy!

2. Stylish Soba Noodles

(Chef Ravi Ranjan, Corporate chef, Ditas Lower Parel)

Ingredients

1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

Onion slices 60 gms

Carrot sliced 40 gm

Bokchoy 30 gm

Bell pepper 40 gm

Boiled soba noodles - 200 gm

For sauce

1/4 cup soy

1/4 cups rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 tbsp ginger chop

Salt

Make this recipe in 2 parts, first prepare the sauce and then the noodles

For sauce:

Add the above ingredients and bring it to a boil

For noodles:

- Add oil, saute garlic once brown.

- Add carrot, bell peppers and bokchoy once properly cooked.

- Put the boiled noodles in the end and toss it well in a wok

- Add sesame seeds in the end

3. Zucchini Zoodles

(Chef Subhash Shirke, Executive chef, The Pantry Kalbadevi)

Ingredients

Peanut dressing

Salted peanut - 50 gm

Tamarind paste - 10 gm

Soya sauce - 3 ml

Black jaggery - 5 gm

Lemon juice - 2ml

Pink salt - 2 gm

Garlic peeled - 3 gm

Method

• Deseed tamarind and boil it in 2 cups of water over low flame for 8-10 minutes, if you do not want to boil then you can also soak it in water for 1 hour. Let it cool.
• Mash the tamarind in water and strain through a metal colander and discard fibres. Press the mashed tamarind hard with spoon to get more pulp.
• Take garlic peels, roasted peanut, jaggery, tamarind paste, soya sauce, salt in medium grinder and grind it until medium coarse consistency. Now add lemon juice and grind again until paste in texture

4. Pad thai

(Recipe by Chef Hiren Mistry, Millo Lower Parel)

Ingredients

Peanut butter dressing - 60 gm

Zucchini zoodles - 200 gm

Pink salt - 3 gm

Fresh red paprika - 10 gm

Chili flakes - 10 gm

Salted peanut - 10 gm

Mix of black and white sesame - 2 gm

Lemon slice half

Micro greens - 6 gm

Final assembly method

• In a bowl, take peanut dressing, lime juice, chilli flakes, salt and bit water and whisk, slightly thinner in texture.
• Mix the fresh zucchini zoodles with the dressing together and toss it until all dressing mixed properly.
• Place the zoodles in a fresh bowl, add salted peanut, red paprika, sesame seeds and microgreens as garnish. Keep slice lemon on top and serve cold.