Thai Peanut Noodles (stove top and Instant Pot)

A good recipe for an easy and mostly-lazy dinner. I’m not normally a fan of noodle-heavy dishes (or in this case almost entirely noodles), but I love the thai sauce flavor mixed with the ginger. Besides cutting up the veggies and mixing the sauce, this recipe takes almost no time to make. The longest part is waiting on the Instant Pot to come up to pressure. From start to finish it takes maybe 25-30 minutes.

Adapted from a recipe by Cook with Manal.

Ingredients

Servings: enough for 2 mostly-full dinner bowls

4-5 garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tsp. from a jar)
1-inch ginger, minced
2 medium carrots, julienned (matchstick cut)
1 medium bell pepper, any color, julienned
3 stalks green onion, finely chopped (optional: more for garnish)
2½ tbs. low-sodium soy sauce or tamari
1½ tbs. rice vinegar
1½ tbs. agave nectar
1 tbs. Sriracha, or slightly less for less heat
3 tbs. low-sodium peanut butter
sea salt, to taste or omit for lower sodium
8-oz. whole wheat spaghetti, broken into half
about 1½ cups water
2 tbs. cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime, about 1½-2 tbs.
crushed peanuts (unsalted), to garnish

Directions for Instant Pot

1. Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Add the garlic and ginger. Saute for a minute until they begin to brown.

2. Add in the carrots, bell pepper, and green onion. Stir frequently to prevent burning until the carrots begin to soften.

3. Whisk together the sauce ingredients, soy sauce through peanut butter, while the veggies saute. When the carrots soften, add the sauce to the Instant Pot and mix it thoroughly with the veggies.

4. Break the spaghetti in half and add it to the pot. Add the water. If the water isn’t covering the spaghetti, add a small amount of water, a little at a time, until the water is mostly covering the spaghetti. Don’t add too much water or it’ll turn into a thai peanut noodle soup.

5. Place the lid on the pot. Press the Manual button, making sure it is set to High heat, and set the timer for 4 minutes. The pressure valve needs to be in the Sealing position.

6. When it’s done, do a quick pressure release (carefully turn the valve to Venting).

7. Use tongs to mix everything together. Add the lime juice, cilantro, and (if you chose to have some for garnish) the extra green onion.

8. Use the tongs to transfer the noodles to serving bowls, then add crushed peanuts on top.

Directions for Stove Top

Note: omit the 1½ cups water used for the Instant Pot and use the amount of water called for on the spaghetti package

1. Boil a pot of water and cook the spaghetti according to package directions.

2. Saute the ginger and garlic in a large pan over medium-high heat. When it has just started to brown, add the veggies (carrot, bell pepper, onion) and turn the heat down to medium. To speed up the process, place a lid over the pan to steam the veggies.

3. To make the sauce, whisk together soy sauce through peanut butter. When the veggies are soft, add the sauce and stir to combine.

4. Strain the water from the spaghetti noodles, then transfer the noodles to the pan with the veggies and sauce. Mix to combine, then add the lime juice, cilantro, and additional green onion.

5. Serve with tongs and top with crushed peanuts.