There are several dishes I took for granted in New York; they were everywhere and it never occured to me to make them at home. Cold sesame noodles are in that group. It’s almost impossible in my part of New England to find a Chinese restaurant that serves them. I found them only twice: a white-tablecloth place had a very good version, but it was forced to close because of fraud. Another place, a carry out, has them but they’re inedible, a sad blob of gummy, stuck-together noodles smothered with peanut butter.
So I tried a few recipes hoping to recreate the taste and quality of the cold sesame noodles from my favorite neighborhood joint in New York. This one, from Molly O’Neill’s New York Cookbook, comes closest and doubles well for a crowd. I leave out the cilantro, though, and use dried red pepper flakes instead of fresh chiles. With those minor changes, this recipe takes me home.
Cold Sesame Noodles
8 oz. Chinese egg noodles or spaghetti
1/4 cup sesame oil
2 tsp. tahini
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 TB white vinegar
2 tsp Hunan pepper sauce
1 tsp. minced fresh red chile
2 TB sugar
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
2 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and cut into a fine julienne
2 scallions, trimed and minced
1/4 cup cilantro
Boil the noodles in a large pot of well-salted water until tender. Drain, cool thoroughly in cold water and drain again. Toss the noodles with the sesame oil. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
In a large bowl, combine the tahini, peanut butter, vinegar, Hunan pepper sauce, chile, sugar, chicken broth and white pepper. Add the cold noodles and toss well. Add the cucumbers, scallions and cilantro, toss well and serve.
Copyright © 1992 Molly O’Neill
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Thanks for this recipe. We love cold sesame noodles and have been buying them from a health food store. It’s great to know that they aren’t that hard to make.
You’re very welcome! Do let me know how you like them if you try the recipe.
yummmm! My mouth is watering. Not just because I haven’t had noodles on 3 months. I might have to indulge slightly with this recipe
Anytime your diet (keep up the good work!) will allow some noodles, the recipe will be here. Thanks for stopping by. The frying chicken in your header image nearly does me in!
Thanks for this recipe. As I am a vegetarian, I think I will substitute a nice vegetable broth for the chicken broth. The dried red pepper substitution makes this easier, and I think the combination of tahini and pb makes this interesting. I don’t know if that is the norm, but it looks very yummy! One of my favorite dishes, perfect for the summer.
{{{bb}}} It’s so good to see you here! I know I just told you this elsewhere, but for others who might not know it — and I sure didn’t at first — if you click on “meatless” below the recipe, that is a meta tag and will show you posts tagged “meatless” from all over WordPress.
If you click on “meatless” in the tag cloud to the right, that will show you all of my posts tagged that way.
Veggie broth should be fine! Bon Appetit – as your neighbor used to say.
Another yummy contribution to my waistline! Thanks ellaella! While you are in noodle mode can you do an Udon noodle dish? I worship Udon with oyster sauce…
Welcome back, lin! Hope you had a great vacation. I’m not really in noodle mode, sorry.
I’m in hot weather food mode. Trying to find my recipe (Jacques’ really) for cucumber soup.