(No)Danger Noodles: An Injury-Free Dinner at Last

Having both cut and burned myself making dinner last night (okonomiyaki, in case you're wondering), I decided that I needed a recipe that required neither knives nor a pan - and I actually have one, because owning hundreds of cookbooks is delightful. This recipe was originally scheduled for a night when there were only 3 of us eating, but because of Reasons we ended up with 6 people, 3 of them teenagers. We repurposed some leftovers and doubled the noodles and everyone went away feeling pleasantly full. Huzzah for noodles! 

And huzzah for this sauce, which is fantastic. You could use just about any Asian noodle with it, but we went with rice ramen because that's what Costco sells. As I said, you can double the noodles and end up with a slightly drier dish. You could skip the chicken and it's vegan. The ingredient list will justify your recent binge at the Asian grocery store, and if you don't have sambal oelek you can substitute Sriracha and nobody will be the wiser. 

I can already tell this is going to become a summer weeknight favorite. It comes together in less time than it takes to boil the water for the noodles; buy the kind that you just soak in hot water for a few minutes and you can have dinner on the table in under 10 minutes. Seriously. You won't overheat your kitchen and you won't make a lot of dirty dishes and you can even skip the first step if you're really not feeling it. Aldi sells cilantro and green onions so we pretty much always have them on hand so I don't even have to think ahead. Best of all, it's almost impossible to injure yourself while cooking it. 

** A side note about the element of danger in my kitchen: With Anna both in culinary school and cooking for work and my general accident-proneness, there are so many cooking injuries in our household that we've had to come up with criteria for what actually constitutes an injury rather than an annoyance or an anecdote. We also have a "This department has gone ___ days without an injury" sign next to the fridge. Our record is "several." 

(No) Danger Noodles

1 Tbsp sesame oil, divided
1 Tbsp ginger paste
2 cloves garlic, minced, or equivalent amount of garlic paste
2 cups chopped cooked chicken 
1/2 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 Tbsp soy sauce 
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 Tbsp hoisin sauce 
2 tsp sambal oelek or Sriracha
1 7-oz package rice noodles (if you like it saucy) or more 
2 Tbsp chopped roasted peanuts unless your husband ate them all 

Heat 2 teaspoons oil in small pan, then add the ginger and garlic. Cook about 1 minute, stirring constantly. Or skip this step altogether because you can; the garlic and ginger will be a tiny bit sharper but still delicious. 

Add the other ingredients, up to the noodles. 

Cook your noodles and add them to the bowl, then top with the peanuts. Enjoy your extra leisure time and clean kitchen.