Makin' it Monday - what to do with too many rice noodles

So I cooked some rice noodles, you know those little skinny ones that look like nothing and then when you cook them you have n-o-o-d-l-e-s!
Oodles of noodles!
What was I thinking? There are only 2 of us here now and I still think I'm cooking for an army!

So the next night it was hot and I decided that a salad was in order.

I gathered together some vegetables -

and some leftover fried tofu -

I used 2 cups of the cooked noodles.
I added 1/2 cup diced capsicum
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup baby corn these 3 I blanched in boiling water.

Plus 1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup sliced red cabbage
1 cup of bean sprouts
and 1/2 cup diced fried tofu.
I just use the ready-fried tofu that you can buy at the supermarket, but you could fry your own or use unfried tofu.

Mix it all up with a dressing of
2 Tbs lime juice
1 Tbs rice vinegar
1 Tbs oil
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 clove garlic crushed
1 tsp ground coriander powder
2 Tbs chopped fresh herbs, I used basil and coriander
Pinch of chilli flakes if you like

Serve with chopped peanuts on top.

It's very refreshing!

You could use other fresh or blanched vegetables, and omit the tofu if you really object to it.

ps I still didnt manage to use all the noodles - I think they will have to be composted.

pps I failed to use the ginger even thought I photographed it!

Do you have any suggestions for leftover noodles?

Makin' it Monday - Malay fried noodles with prawns

So yesterday was our annual family Christmas in July, except it's nearly always in August.

A fair bit of eating and drinking goes on and a lot of catching up.
And that is the whole point I guess - it's always to hard to catch up with everybody at Christmas as there are so many extended families involved now, so this mid-year get-together is just for us!

Everybody contributes some food and there is always masses of it!

Needless to say there are always leftovers and this year we were lucky enough to be left with the prawns!

So this is what I did with them for dinner tonight -

Malay fried noodles with prawns adapted from"New recipes from Moosewood Restaurant"



250g chinese wheat noodles or vermicelli or noodles of your choice.
1/2 onion sliced
Garlic clove - crushed
Bit of dried chilli - to taste
Leftover prawns (mine were cooked) shelled and de-veined
Cup of shredded cabbage
Cup of sliced snow peas
1/4 capsicum sliced
Stick of celery sliced
handful beansprouts
soy sauce
chopped coriander

Cook the noodles in boiling water until just done - mine took 5 mins, or even more easy-peasy you could use those cooked ones in packets.
Drain and stir in some sesame oil.

In wok heat some oil (I always use olive oil, cus that's what I have)
Cook the sliced onion until soft.
Add the garlic, dried chilli capsicum and celery stir fry for a couple of minutes.
Add the cabbage and snow peas, continue to stir fry until pleasnatly crisp.
Add the prawns, noodles and a tablespoon or 2 of soy sauce.
Stir until everything is warmed through.
Stir in beansprouts, take off heat.
Serve with coriander and lime wedges.

To make it a bit more Malay you could top with fried onion, crispy fried garlic and chopped shallots, but I didn't want to fuss that much.

This is a quick stir fried dinner and this quantity was enough for 2 to 3 people, unless one of them is Mr planet in which case there is enough for 2!

So do you do the Christmas in July thing?

 What about leftovers?
Do you always have plenty and what do you do with them?
Feed them to the chooks?
Leave them in the fridge for a week and then throw them away?!

Delicious noodles

This is a cross between Pad Thai and Gado Gado, and it's from a Moosewood cookbook.
It's easy and you could vary the vegetables.



170 g packet of rice noodles, the flat kind

- Cook rice noodles in boiling water as per the packet

2 Tbs lime juice
Grated rind of one lime
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tsp brown sugar
1 cup of vegatable stock

- mix all together using a whisk


2 leeks, make sure you wash all the dirt out from between the leaves
2 green zuccini
1 red capsicum

- slice all the veg into thin sticks 1/2 to 1 cm wide and about 10 cm long.
- Saute in a little oil with 2 crushed garlic cloves and a tablespoon of lemon grass, in a wok for 2 to 3 mins until just tender.
- add peanut sauce and the noodles and stir until heated through.
- garnish with some chopped fresh coriander

Delicious!