Noodles with Spicy Sauce

So I've had these noodles sitting around for awhile, and finally decided to use them. Interestingly, they had NO cooking instructions on them and the writing was all in a language I couldn't read, so I best guessed it. I figured between five and ten minutes would do the trick.

I worked on the rest of the dish and when I went to dump the noodles into the colander to drain, they were missing! What I had instead was a gelatinous goo.

Emergency trip to the grocery store for more noodles allowed me to find another package of these same mystery noodles (and again NO cooking instructions), but I voted against buying them. Instead I bought spaghetti and returned with a resolve to learn more about those pretty clear noodles.

Turns out they were cellophane noodles, and most instructions seem to suggest not boiling them at all, but rather pouring hot water over them. Lesson learned.

Noodles with Spicy Sauce

Spaghetti noodles (or pasta of your choice, but make sure you know how to cook them!)
1 c. peanut butter
6 T. tamari or soy sauce or Braggs Aminos
4 t. lime juice
2 t. brown sugar
1 t. red pepper flakes
1 c. water
Two cans of mixed or stir-fry vegetables. drained
Chopped roasted peanuts

Cook the noodles according to package directions. In a pot, whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, lime juice, brown sugar, red pepper flakes and the water, until smooth. Add more water if needed to make the sauce saucy. Heat the sauce over low heat, stirring often. Add the drained vegetables to the sauce and mix in well. Serve the sauce over the drained noodles and sprinkle liberally with the peanuts.

One word of caution: check the ingredients on the peanuts. Seriously. We made the sad discovery recently that some dry roasted peanuts list gelatin as an ingredient. Really? Gelatin? In a jar of peanuts? This seems to be a problem with Planters, but the store brands tend to list only peanuts and oil and salt as their ingredients. I haven't checked other brands, but wanted to issue that warning.

Enjoy! Oh, and have tissues handy. This stuff will clear up your sinuses!