Nutty Asian Noodles with Carrots & Edamame

Back in November, MIHM kicked off our recipe theme of International Food Night with Guinness and Onion Soup. It was interesting to say the least, but that's not enough to keep us moving along in the International Arena! Last week we hosted another MIHM International Food Night with Nutty Asian Noodles. My mom found this recipe from Rachael Ray. The recipe is really easy to follow, and we'd recommend trying it!

The recipe called for a few ingredients we've never cooked with before, including udon noodles and frozen shelled edamame. (We substituted the lo mein noodles in the recipe for udon noodles.)

Toasting peanuts for the sauce.

Shredding the carrots.

Cooking the fresh udon noodles.

Here's where the recipe got a little strange. After cooking the udon noodles, we drained and rinsed them under cold water until they were cold...we didn't think too much about this because we were just following the directions in the recipe. But in retrospect, it was weird...

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Using the food processor to make the peanut sauce.

Mixing the sauce and cold noodles.

Combining the carrots and edamame with the sauce and noodles.

Plated! 

This meal was really delicious. The peanut sauce was great, and the edamame was a fun addition since we don't cook with that often (or ever!). Using the thicker udon noodles was a great touch and made the meal a little more substantial. The Girls Team would recommend this meal to anyone, and we definitely plan to make it again. My dad and brother (who weren't home to try it) would probably really enjoy it with a side of white sticky rice...which means we'll make it again for them. :)

BUT. Remember how I said cooling the noodles was a weird step in the process? Yeah, that weird step led to weird cold noodles. And so after plating the dish, my mom and I both ended up microwaving our food before really diving in. It didn't ever clarify in the recipe if this dish was supposed to be served cold, but following the directions meant cooling perfectly warm, freshly cooked noodles. So it wasn't totally terrible cold, it just was unexpected. Next time we'll save our microwave a job, and just skip the cooling step. 

We both liked this recipe a lot and can count this second edition of International Food Night a greater success than the first!