Being stuck at home has brought out the chef in almost every Singaporean. Now approaching the end of the circuit breaker, we’ve probably cooked up every single possible dish for our meals. From trying to make a meal using rice cookers, to making scrambled eggs using a microwave on lazy days, we’ve tried them all.
Instant noodles are perfect for those days where you don’t know what to cook. To make things fun, we added a nice twist to your usual instant noodles by incorporating peanut butter in them. We went a step further and added in some maple syrup as well. This combination turned out to be quite delicious! Who knew these two sweet ingredients would make a decent sauce for noodles?
Here’s what you need:
- 3 packs of instant noodles (without the seasoning)
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- ½ tsp of grated ginger
- Toasted sesame seeds as garnish (optional)
Preparing the sauce
You’ll want to add the peanut butter, soy sauce, sesame oil, maple syrup, garlic, ginger and 2 tbsp of water into a bowl and mix. Cover with cling film and poke some holes. After which place it in a microwave for 1 – 1.5 minutes. The timing really depends on your microwave, so we suggest doing it in intervals of 30 seconds to prevent it from burning.
We used chunky peanut butter for a mix of textures, but you can definitely use normal, creamy peanut butter.
For the noodles
Place them in a pot of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. You can adjust the timing to your individual preference. When they’re cooked, remove and place noodles in an ice bath.
Complete your dish by adding the sauce to the noodles and mix well. Sprinkle some sesame seeds before serving. You can also garnish using some chopped spring onion or coriander.
For heat lovers, a drizzle of chilli oil will elevate the dish with a few spicy notes.
Verdict
Super easy to make and tastes decent. Would go well with coriander or spring onion, and maybe some protein. You’d think that the sauce would be too sweet but the soy sauce and sesame oil balanced everything out nicely, with distinct nutty notes from the peanut butter. One thing we realized was how thick the sauce was, so a tip is to add a few tbsp of hot water if you find the sauce too salty or thick for you. Other than that, this dish is worth a shot.
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