Cold Noodles with Hot Sauce

INGREDIENTS:

2 tb Garlic, minced (fresh)
3 tb Coriander, minced
-(fresh)
1/2 c Peanut butter
5 oz Soy sauce, light
5 tb Sugar
Rice wine (between
-1/2 t to 1 T)
1 tb Hot bean paste
-(up to 2 T)
1 tb Sesame oil
1 lb Lo mein noodles (other
-noodles will do,
-such as ramen noodles,
-or even spaghetti)

Cook the lo mein according to directions. Let cool. Mix the rest of the ingredients. Peanut butter doesn't mix very well, so for a few minutes you'll think you've made a mistake. Don't worry, just keep stirring until it's smooth. Add the sauce to the noodles.

Hot bean sauce also goes by the name Szechuan bean sauce etc. This is the main "spicy" ingredient and should be handled with care. Vary this ingredient to taste. This recipe is probably very good without it. It's also quite good served when the noodles are still hot.

NOTES:

* Mildly spicy cold noodles --
I first had this at Brandy Ho's in Chinatown, San Francisco. I forget where I found the recipe.

: Difficulty: easy. : Time: 10 minutes preparation, 5 minutes cooking. : Precision: no need to measure.

: Edward Falk : Sun Microsystems, Mountain View, California, USA : falk@sun.com sun!falk