Some days, I’m reminded that I’m no chef. The day I made this recipe was one of those days.
From the beginning, this went all wrong. I couldn’t find mirin, tahini or sesame seeds, and I only bought 5 ounces of spinach instead of the called-for 10 ounces. Also, I couldn’t find shiitake mushrooms so I substituted with sliced cremini mushrooms. And I switched out the scallions for chives.
Still, I powered through. The recipe called for a medium size pan, but I was having trouble keeping all of the ingredients in it. I’d suggest using a large pan.
After cooking everything semi-according to the recipe, it turned out kinda tasty. I topped my bowl with a bit more soy sauce and sea salt.
Ingredients
For the sauce:
6 scallions
1 tablespoon plain rice vinegar
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine for cooking)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon tahini (sesame seed paste)
For the pasta:
7 ounces shiitake mushrooms
1 1/2 ounces fresh ginger root
6 ounces dried egg noodles (see headnote)
1 tablespoon peanut oil
10 ounces baby spinach leaves
2 tablespoons black and white sesame seeds, for garnish
Directions
For the sauce:
Trim the scallions, then coarsely chop them; transfer to a blender along with the rice vinegar, soy sauce, mirin, toasted sesame oil and tahini; puree in a mini food processor or blender until fairly smooth. (It can hold there while you prep the rest of the dish.)
For the pasta:
1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil over high heat. Clean the mushrooms and discard their stems (or reserve for making vegetable broth), then cut the mushrooms into thin slices. Peel the ginger and cut into very thin matchsticks.
2. Add the egg noodles to the water; reduce the heat to medium and cook according to the package directions (for al dente). Drain.
3. Heat the oil in a wok or medium saute pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil shimmers, add the mushrooms and ginger; stir-fry for 2 or 3 minutes or until ginger has softened a bit and the mushrooms have released some moisture and have begun to brown.
4. Add the spinach; stir-fry for a minute or two, just until it has wilted a bit, then add the scallion-sesame sauce and egg noodles; stir-fry until everything is coated and warmed through.
5. Divide between or among individual wide, shallow bowls; sprinkle generously with the black and white sesame seeds. Serve right away.
Nutrition | Per serving (based on 3): 420 calories, 15 g protein, 58 g carbohydrates, 16 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 50 mg cholesterol, 250 mg sodium, 9 g dietary fiber, 5 g sugar
Recipe source: Bonnie S. Benwick, The Washington Post