Cooled noodles under a thick sesame-peanut dressing sharpened with black vinegar and chilli oil, piled with cucumber batons and crushed peanuts.
Ingredients
From the TrooFoodz pantry
- Sprouted Foxtail Millet Noodles 1 pack (200 g)
Fresh
- Toasted sesame paste or tahini 3 tbsp
- Unsweetened peanut butter 2 tbsp
- Light soy sauce 3 tbsp
- Chinese black vinegar 2 tbsp
- Chilli oil with sediment 2 tbsp
- Garlic, finely grated 3 cloves
- Toasted sesame oil 1 tsp
- Cucumber, cut into fine batons 1
- Spring onions, sliced on the bias 3
- Roasted peanuts, roughly crushed 3 tbsp
- White sesame seeds, toasted 1 tbsp
Method
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Loosen the paste
Whisk the sesame paste and peanut butter with three tablespoons of warm water until it slackens and turns pale. Adding water first stops the dressing seizing later.
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Balance the dressing
Beat in the soy, black vinegar, grated garlic, chilli oil and sesame oil. You want it pourable but thick enough to leave a trail on the whisk.
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Cook and shock
Boil the Sprouted Foxtail Millet Noodles for two minutes, then drain and rinse under cold running water until completely cool. This washes off loose starch and stops them clumping.
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Dry them off
Shake the colander hard and let the noodles sit for a minute. Surface water dilutes the dressing and is the usual reason these bowls turn watery.
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Dress by hand
Tip the noodles into a wide bowl and turn them through the dressing with tongs until each strand is coated a uniform beige.
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Top and serve
Pile on the cucumber batons and spring onion, then scatter crushed peanuts and sesame seeds. Serve at room temperature with the chilli oil to hand.
Why this works
Foxtail millet noodles hold their shape through a cold rinse better than softer millet strands, which matters when the dressing is heavy. Emulsifying the sesame paste with water before adding acid stops it splitting into a grainy mass. Black vinegar's malty sourness cuts the fat where plain rice vinegar would just read as sharp.
Make it your own
- Sprouted Foxtail Millet Noodles → Sprouted Amaranth Noodles Silkier strand; dress while barely warm so it does not soften further.
- Chinese black vinegar → Rice vinegar with a pinch of tamarind Close on sourness, a touch less malty.
- Toasted sesame paste → All peanut butter Rounder and sweeter; add extra vinegar to compensate.
