Asian-Inspired Fridge Noodles Recipe

This dish is Asian inspired because of the ingredients. I do mean the entire continent of Asia and you will see spices from many different countries/regions/cultures. This is not authentic food from any place, rather a play on what most Westerners (read: white people) know of this style of food. In making this and other dishes at home, it is critical for us to give thanks to those who created these taste combinations and honor the ancestry of the spices. This is the prayer that goes into a dish.

Whatchu got in that fridge and pantry today? Some produce that’s turning questionable, fresh herbs — you have an onion and a couple garlic cloves or the minced stuff in the jar? If you don’t keep sesame oil, please go get some — it seems kind of expensive at big groceries but if you find an Asian Market, you definitely get more bang for your buck. These particular noodles are totally void without it.

Possible pantry items for this and other quick Asian-y dishes:
Sesame, coconut, olive oils
Soy Sauce, Aminos, Tamari, Ponzu, Rice Vinegar, Fish Sauce
Gochujang, Sriracha, Miso Paste, Honey, Peanut Butter
Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Ginger Powder, Curry Powder, Turmeric, Salt, Pepper

Possible produce items:
Onion, garlic, carrots, celery (please , please always keep these on hand — they start so many good dishes)
Broccoli, peppers, mushroom, zucchini, cabbage, tomatoes, any greens or green beans
I mean really, I could list every single vegetable here so I’m gonna stop now.

Possible proteins:
Literally anything you want

OK, here’s what I do:

Cook your protein first. My preference is brown and crispy, so I cut up each piece of, let’s say chicken, quite small and keep the wok (also use whatever pan you have but non-sticks aren’t wonderful for crisp) on high heat. Heat up your preferred oil (I like olive or coconut) super hot and drop that chicken in. Season it with salt, pepper and garlic powder. Stir it all around but then leave it alone for a bit while each piece cooks on one side. SIZZLIN’. Do not stir it around if you want crispy edges. I’m tellin’ ya, don’t do it! When you start to notice the meat getting cooked on the non-pan side, you can consider moving it — basically let it cook almost all the way through on one side.

Annnnnnyway. Put the meat aside and keep the pan going, add a little more oil and start browning the onion and garlic, chopped however you want. I like small bits for these noodles.

Mushrooms - I get these in there with the onion and garlic because I want them brown. You’d think you add them last to the stir fry, but if you want any crisp at all and not mushy mushroom texture, you have to put them in at the beginning or cook them completely separate. If you love mushrooms how they are, put them in whenever. Crisp = put in pan and NO TOUCHING.

Crispy adds umami and depth of flavor that only fire can give. I’m obsessed with it. Not sure if you could tell or not.

I put carrots in next, or whatever is kind of starchy and hard because they need the most time to cook. Poll: Do I brown the carrots? Peppers and celery would go in here, too.

Next I would put broccoli and zucchini in because they take the least amount of time to cook.

I trust you on choosing when to put what in for you. And I also trust you with the sizes of the chops. I always choose small chops because I want every bite to have spice on it. When I first started learning how to cook, I threw everything in at once and it was fine, albeit a little too soggy. With time I learned what my tastebuds and texture buds like the most. You will, too!

When all my veggies are cooking, I boil some noodles. I used vermicelli rice noodles here and they are the perfect texture to soak up flavors. I’d use any kind of noodle for this kind of dish except floury, Italian style pasta. You could really switch this up and easily make this a quick, Italian-inspired fridge noodles recipe — but as you can see I already ramble so we might as well save that for another day. Yikes, one paragraph later …

Drain your rice noodles and run cold water through them. They REALLY stick together so this helps them to stop cooking. Use your hands to pull them away from one another (they love each other so much) while the cold water is seeping in. If they’re going to sit for a bit, add some oil when you turn off the water and keep pulling them apart to coat each one. Then take them over to that hot wok and add the SAUCE.

The Sauce, my variation and I’ll try the amount thing:
4 tablespoons sesame oil
3 tablespoons soy sauce (I have both dark and light — dark is more umami and light, which is what most of us know, is saltier)
2 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons miso paste
1 tablespoon fresh chopped ginger or 1 teaspoon ginger powder
1 tablespoon fresh chopped garlic or 1 teaspoon ginger powder

Put all together in a bowl and taste it, see what you think. Make sure you blend it well to make a slurry. I would likely add scallions here if I had them.

Dump those rice noodles in the pan along with the sauce. You’ll likely need a forked wooden utensil and a spoon so that you can get those noodles apart again. I told you, they love each other! But we must coat each noodle with the sauce. They’ll be back together in no time. Maybe I should call my cookbook “An Empath’s Guide to Cooking” because I really do have feelings for the food.

I keep the pan hot here because once everything is coated in sauce, I like to get a few of the noodles crispy, too. If you don’t care, they’re ready to eat!

Hot Sauce: Sriracha and Gochujang are my favorite additions but they go on the side of the bowl to accommodate toddler and allow whoever else is eating to control their heat.

And there you have it — my very, very wordy recipe for fridge noodles.

I’ll need a very patient editor one day.