Spicy Noodles with Multi Colored Vegetables & Tofu in Spiced Corn Flour Sauce

Noodles has always been on our weekly dinner menu. But method of making noodles is evolving. My mum made it very simple, she served noodles tossed with stir fried leeks and carrot to add some color. I tasted different varieties of noodles when I lived in Southeast Asia. Some of these mouth watering varieties are mee goreng, hokkien mee, chow mein, lo mein, pad thai etc., Each of these varieties has its own unique ingredients and sauces.

The Beauty of Broccoli

When I was in Malaysia I cooked Mee Goreng very often. Used a lot of ingredients and sauces to make this. After a while our taste palate changed and sought for something different. During which time I came across this recipe from a fellow blogger. Now I'm using this method to make noodles.

Essential ingredient for Chinese cooking 

The best part of this recipe is you can use the same sauce to make noodles as well as tofu. You can alter the sauce according to your preferred ingredients. Just make sure you balance the sweet, sour and hot flavors.

Print recipe here

Ingredients to make the Sauce

2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Chili Paste (Vegetarian Sambal Oelek)

2 tbsp tom yum paste or thai red curry paste

2 tbsp sesame oil

Mix everything together, if you find the sauce to be very thick add more water to loosen it up.

Recipe for Tofu in Spiced Corn Flour Sauce

150g firm Tofu cut into cubes

1" ginger cut into thin strips

2-3 garlic cloves diced

2 green chilies diagonally sliced (optional)
1 Onion thinly sliced

1/2 of green and yellow bell pepper roughly chopped

2 tbsp corn flour mixed in 50ml cold water

4 tbsp Vegetable oil

Method

Heat 2 tbsp oil in wide non-stick pan stir fry till tofu is lightly golden brown. Keep them aside.

Tofu stir fried into Golden goodness and Sauce that transforms this whole dish 

In the same pan heat oil and stir in  green chilies, onion, garlic and ginger until fragrant. Add roughly chopped peppers stir it till its coated with oil. Now add 2 tbsp sauce and corn flour water.

Mix well, corn flour will immediately start to thicken up, turn off heat add tofu and mix well.

Since all the sauces already have salt, I don't use additional salt.

Note : Before starting to cook this dish cut everything and keep them ready. As with all Chinese cooking once the pan is smoking hot you have to assemble everything quickly.

Noodles Recipe

Serves 2-3

150g Noodles (Use rice noodles for gluten free and whole wheat noodles for low GI)

2-3 garlic cloves  minced

1" ginger julienned

2 green chilies diagonally sliced (optional)

1/2 of green and yellow pepper roughly chopped

1 medium size broccoli cut into small florets

3-4 tbsp sesame oil

Method

Heat oil in a pan stir fry vegetable for 2 minutes till broccoli florets have turned to dark green. Set them aside to cool. Cook noodles according to packet instructions.

In the same pan heat oil stir fry garlic and ginger till fragrant. Add rest of the sauce mix well. Add noodles mix well till noodles  are nicely coated with spice sauce. Turn off heat. Next add stir fried vegetables mix well and serve hot with spiced tofu.