Asian Vegan Recipe: Pineapple Coconut Noodles

Quick Easy Asian Noodle Recipe from Nava Atlas's Cookbook, Vegan Express

Six Servings: 'This dish has proven a big hit in my home. You can get all the ingredients in the Asian foods section of any well-stocked supermarket or natural foods store.'

Ingredients:

• 12 oz Asian noodles (see *Note)
• 1 Tblsp light olive oil
• 4 - 6 cloves garlic
• One 14 - 15 ounce can light coconut milk
• One 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, lightly drained
• 1/2 tsp Thai red or green curry paste, or to taste, dissolved in a little warm water
• Optional: 1 stalk lemongrass, cut into thirds and bruised with a knife
• Juice of 1/2 - 1 lime
• 2 Tblsp natural granulated sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 - 8 scallions, sliced
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup minced fresh cilantro
• Peanut halves or crushed peanuts
• Per Serving:
• Calories: 308
• Total fat: 9 g
• Protein: 9 g
• Carbohydrates: 52 g
• Fiber: 4 g
• Sodium: 510 mg

*Note: This is most authentic with wide flat rice noodles, but no matter how carefully I cook them, they fall apart in the dish. Instead, I use whole-grain soba noodles. Any long, thin noodle will work, though, and this is also good with whole wheat spaghettini

Directions:

1. Cook the noodles in plenty of rapidly simmering water until al dente, then drain.
2. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a stir-fry pan. Add the garlic and sauté over low heat until golden. Add the coconut milk and pineapple, then whisk in the curry paste. Add the lemongrass, lime juice to taste, sugar and salt.
3. Add the cooked noodles to the coconut mixture, along with half the scallions and cilantro to taste. Remove from the heat. If you'd lke a spicier dish, stir in small amounts of additional curry paste (dissolved in a little water) until the effect is a spicy as you'd like. Serve at once, passing around the remaining scallions and the peanuts for topping.

Menu Suggestions:

Pair this easy recipe with a basic protein dish. Good choices are BBQ-Flavored Skillet Tofu (pg 62), Cornmeal-Crusted Seitan (pg 63), and Tempeh Fries with Horseradish or Wasabi-Dill Mayonnaise (pg 78). Add a platter of grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced bell pepers, baby corn and carrots.