Cold Sesame Noodles (凉拌麻酱面)

It's warm and it's sunny -- oh so incredibly sunny. It's the start of my favorite couple of months in Britain.  It honestly doesn't take much to make me happy, good weather, good food, good company -- It may be that bad time of the month for me, I may have an Economics essay I need to stress about, I may have to catch up on some readings for Psychology, and by some I mean about 200 pages. But it's okay, it's 18 degrees, it's not windy, the sunshine is blinding, and I'm on holiday. 
You can imagine why I love picnics so much.  I love being outdoors and I love good food. So here's something different for your picnic basket -- ditch your finger sandwiches and cous cous salads, try some cold sesame noodles!


Total time: 5 min  Serves: 1  Suitable for: express lunches

Ingredients: 

100g egg noodles/rice noodles 

1 tbsp sesame paste*

1/2 tbsp soya sauce 

1/2 tbsp sesame oil 

1/4 tsp sugar 

1/4 tbsp rice vinegar/white wine vinegar 

2 tbsp cold water 

1 clove of garlic, minced 

Optional:

cucumber, peeled and julienned 

carrots, peeled and julienned
chicken, cooked and shredded

*If you don't have sesame paste, you can replace with tahini with a bit more sesame oil.  Or add some peanut butter.

Method: 

1. Blanch the noodles in hot water until cooked, drain.

2. Whisk all the other ingredients together and mix with noodles. Served cold.