Just Another Meatless Monday #46 Cold Thai Peanut Salad

Oh hey I love peanut sauce, I could eat it every day, on a lot of different foods, how about you? I used to make this fantastic cold pasta salad with dressing from a mix, unfortunately they discontinued the mix. Or perhaps it was fortunate? I was forced to come up with my own recipe for a Cold Thai Peanut Salad, I actually like mine so much more. I'm pretty sure mine is more of whole food rather than a chemical combination of flavors, which is better all the way around.

I made the salad for a party, Chinese New Year Feast of A Thousand Dumplings, which did not technically have a thousand dumplings nor was it ALL Chinese foods. I think we maxed out at about 350 dumplings and 5 Asian cuisines. That's a lot of dumplings. The whole feast was full of great food and I didn't take one picture. Food blogger FAIL. But I do have the recipe for the Cold Thai Peanut Salad.

Cold Thai Peanut Salad

16 ounce box Fettuccine
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 TBSP coconut milk
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 cup good salsa
2 TBSP water
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 inch chunk of ginger root, peeled and minced**use less per your taste
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced**use less per your taste
handful of fresh basil washed and chopped fine
handful of fresh cilantro washed chopped fine
1 cup of dry roasted peanuts

cook noodles according to package instructions
while they are cooking mix dressing
add the peanut butter through the garlic to a pint mason jar, shake until well mixed about 1 minute
taste dressing add salt if needed and more ginger and garlic if desired
when the noodles are done cooking drain and rinse with cold water
pour into a large mixing bowl add 3/4 of the dressing, the basil and cilantro
toss to mix and refrigerate at least 4 hours to combine flavors
refrigerate the last bit of dressing you'll use it right before serving
before serving mix again, add the last 1/4 of the dressing and the peanuts, stir to combine
serve cold

Peace and Love--