Noodles with Spicy Peanut Sauce

Hi, there. So excited to be finally writing the first post for my blog!

To start out, I chose to go with one of the simplest – yet delicious – recipes I know and love in the backcountry. It calls for only 4 (four!) ingredients, and takes approximately 10 minutes to prepare. ALSO, you can double up and use the water you cooked the noodles in, to make overnight oats for the next morning. So there’s really no reason not to try this.

If you know me, you might know that I don’t like peanut butter … except when it’s in a saucy, savoury, noodle-y dish like this one. To be honest, this type of a “Thai-inspired” dish seems everywhere, yet I’m not entirely sure what its origins are. Is it inspired by pad thai? Or does it come from Thai/Indonesian peanut satay sauce, which is not actually eaten with noodles to the best of my knowledge? Either way, I’d seen many takes on peanutty noodles (here’s a very yummy example), before I tried to adapt one for the backcountry.

The first time I made it was pretty recently: Felix and I were in the South Chilcotin mountains for a whole week, and this was dinner on the first night. Since it only needs a handful of ingredients, this recipe is perfect for a long backpacking trip such as what we were on. We also calculated what our calorific needs would be after many hours of hiking, and this one packs quite the punch at approximately 560 calories per serving. You can always adjust this by changing the amount of noodles or peanut butter used.

And finally, while I put down specific quantities, feel free to make this recipe your own! Add chopped up veggie sausages, use chunky peanut butter instead of smooth, add more chilli powder or use a garlicky hot sauce, add a broth cube and make it soupy… the possibilities are endless.

Serves: 2
Ideal for: Long backcountry trip
Type: Dinner
Cuisine: Thai/Indonesian-inspired

Ingredients

2 tbsp unsweetened peanut butter*
3 soy sauce sachets** (or 2-3 tbsp soy sauce)
Sprinkle of red chilli powder
4 ramen noodle blocks (approx 280g)
Optional: Some peanuts from your trail mix

Instructions: At Home

You can mix everything but the noodles and bring it one container, especially if not carrying soy sauce sachets. But you might be bringing peanut butter anyway for your oatmeal breakfasts or lunches, in which case, keep that separate.

Instructions: At Camp

1. Follow package instructions to cook the noodles. They might need to be broken up into smaller pieces, depending on your pot size.
2. Once the noodles are cooked through, use some of the hot water and mix with soy sauce, peanut butter and chilli powder to get it to a sauce-like consistency. Start with 2 tablespoons, and add more water to thin out if you want something soupy. Photo below is the consistency I go for.
   
3. Serve up the noodles and the sauce into individual servings. Any remaining noodle water can be used to make soup or overnight oatmeal for breakfast the next day.
4. If using peanuts, just sprinkle them on top for some crunch.

Recipe Notes

• * Either chunky or smooth. If using chunky peanut butter, can skip adding peanuts at the end.
• ** Soy sauce sachets that come with sushi takeout are perfect for this. Or, you can always bring some in a small container.