Peanut & Lentil Rice Noodles with Lime Soaked Vegetables

How do you get your loved ones to eat their lentils and veggies? Put them in a peanut sauce with sticky noodles! Bam.

Our 19 year old’s favourite food is pasta, hands down. She told me tonight, she would love anything that I put with sticky rice noodles. That’s an open door right there… Yes, I was a University student once too, but the thought of the Ichiban soup packages and KD she sometimes eats is giving me hives, so….

Enter my new recipe, Peanut Lentil Rice Noodles with Lime Soaked Vegetables! Now there is a handle if I’ve ever read one! Someone needs to come up with an APP that makes creative recipe names based on ingredients. I actually just searched for one… nothing out there. Do I smell an opportunity? 😉

Why make this recipe?

This recipe is the perfect comfort food… noodles in a creamy nut sauce with lentils and fresh crispy vegetables. Everyone in the house can be happy, from the non-spice lovers, to those who like to jazz it up with extra red pepper flakes. The lentils have such a mild taste and stick so well to the noodles that they are sure to get into those growing bodies! If you have picky eaters, they won’t even know those little legume powerhouses are there! (Lentils are great sources of iron, protein, magnesium, vitamin Bs, zinc and are very high in fiber.)

This dish is served warm, not hot, with the vegetables marinated in lime juice, not cooked. So… that means it is PERFECT as leftovers for school lunch or midday break from Zoom work meetings. No need to heat!

Rice noodles aren’t necessarily that nutritious, but they are certainly low in ingredients, (rice and water), so that is always a good thing.

The rest of the ingredients are the focus in this dish. Lentils, cucumber, red pepper, radish, green onions, cilantro, peanuts and lime. These are all whole foods that are filled with flavour and nutrition!

I hope this recipe makes you feel like spring is coming and that there is hope at the end of this winter/covid tunnel. Somehow its brightness and flavour got me all jazzed up!

Peanut & Lentil Rice Noodles with Lime Soaked Vegetables

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Serves: 4 Prep Time: 30 minutes Cooking Time: 3 minutes 3 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

Ingredients

• 1 - 14 oz can green lentils, drained and rinsed
• 1 - 250 gram package of rice noodles, broken in half (super long noodles get messy when they get sticky)
• 1 red pepper, cored and sliced thinly lengthwise
• 3 green onions, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces
• 1/2 long english cucumber, sliced finely into circles
• 3/4 cup peanuts
• 4 radishes, sliced finely
• 1 lime, zested and cut in half
• 1/3 cup cilantro, substitute with chopped spinach if you dislike cilantro
• 1-2 teaspoons sesame oil (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• PEANUT SAUCE:
• 1/3 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky, your preference
• 3 tablespoons Braggs Aminos, or soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons water
• 1 tablespoon garlic, chopped (about 3-4 cloves)
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup
• the zest of one lime
• 1/2 lime squeezed
• 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes, more to sprinkle on later if desired
• freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Wash and slice red pepper, cucumber, green onion, radish and cilantro and place into a medium sized bowl.  (Keep half of the cilantro to use as a garnish.)
2. Zest the lime, and place the zest into a small bowl.  Cut the lime in half and squeeze one half of the lime over the bowl of sliced veggies.  Add 1/4 teaspoon of salt to the veggies and stir to coat.  Set aside and stir a couple of more times.
3. In a medium pot, bring 3 litres of salted water to a boil. 
4. In the small bowl containing the lime zest, squeeze the second half of the lime and add in the remainder of the Peanut Sauce ingredients.   Mix with a fork until smooth.  Set aside.
5. Open the can of lentils, place them in a colander and rinse with running water.  Drain over the sink until all water is removed.  Set aside.
6. Once salted water is boiled, cook the rice noodles as per instructions.  Usually about 3 minutes, stirring to keep the noodles from sticking together.  Do not overcook.  Drain the noodles in a colander, and rinse under cool water to remove some of the starch. This will prevent them from sticking together.  Place the noodles back into the pot and, if desired, add 1-2 teaspoons of sesame oil and stir until coated. 
7. Add the peanut sauce into the noodles, stirring well until combined.  
8. Next, add the lentils and 1/2 cup of peanuts to the pot of pasta and stir.  
9. Place noodle mixture into individual bowls.  Stir the bowl of vegetables one last time to distribute the lime juice, then top each bowl with fresh vegetables.  Top with leftover peanuts and cilantro.  Sprinkle with more red pepper flakes if you like spicy food. 
10. Enjoy!

                                                         www.thevibrantveggie.com

Notes

This dish is gluten free as long as you ensure the soy sauce is gluten free. Allergic to peanuts? Sub almond or cashew butter and nuts. Sesame oil can be omitted. This is a great dish for school leftovers the next day. Tastes delicious eaten cold!