theveganpea

This is my go-to dish for garden parties and  family style meals on a sunny day. It is light, bright and totally delicious. I like to make mine pretty spicy but you are able to use more or less chilli depending on how much heat you can handle. I love cold noodles because I think that all the flavours of the spices become intensified and it tastes super fresh.

Preparation time: 40 minutes (including cooking time)

Ingredients (Serves 2):

• 300g Tahini
• 15g Dried Shiitake Mushrooms (or porcini mushrooms if more readily available)
• 4 Large Oranges (juice and zest)
• 1 1/2 Large Lemons (juiced)
• 2 Hot Birdseye Chillies (finely chopped)
• 50g Chives (finely chopped)
• 1 inch knob Ginger (grind into paste in mixer)
• Salt (to taste)
• 250g Gluten Free Spaghetti (my favourite brand is Sainsbury’s Free From range)
• 200g Mange Tout
• 200g Green Beans
• 100g Bean Sprouts
• 2 tbsp Black Sesame Seeds

Method:

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in 1 cup of boiling water for 20 minutes
2. Boil the mange tout and green beans for 7 minutes, and immediately rinse in cold water to stop cooking process
3. In a large salad bowl, mix the mange tout, green beans and bean sprouts
4. Boil the spaghetti following the instructions on the pack (i like to cook mine al dente to give the salad more texture) and rinse with cold water until noodles are room temperature
5. Mix the noodles in with the vegetables
6. In a separate bowl whisk the tahini, orange juice, orange zest, ginger paste, lemon juice, chives and chillies together until the orange juice has fully incorporated into the tahini
7. Without agitating the mushrooms in the boiling water (you do not want to get the sediment that has settled at the base of the bowl) collect 4 tbsp of the water and add it to the sauce and mix well
8. Add salt to taste to the sauce
9. If the sauce is too thick to flow of a spoon then add more mushroom water until the correct consistency is achieved (we want a sauce that flows yet still coats the noodle)
10. Dress the noodles and vegetables in the sauce and toss through
11. Garnish the salad with black sesame seeds and optional extra orange zest and chives
12. Enjoy my Little Peas!