Pacific Rim Flava: noodle dishes

Main Dish idea: Bean threads with vegetables
Ingredients
bean thread noodles
Thai fish sauce
rice vinegar
tamari or soy sauce
spicy black bean paste
oyster sauce
hoisin sauce
tahini or almond butter
water
onion, chopped
ginger, chopped
vegetable oil
mushrooms, sliced
broccoli, sliced
chickpeas, small can
sesame seeds

Assemblage

1. Prepare bean threads by boiling them for 5 minutes. Drain and set aside.
   
2. Prepare sauce by stirring together all ingredients from "Thai fish sauce" to "tahini." Once they are well combined, add water and stir again to thin out the sauce (this may whiten the sauce a bit, do not be disturbed). Amounts needed are up to you depending on personal taste and amount of noodles used. I usually make about 3/4 cup sauce for 2 small packages of noodles.
   
3. Stir fry the onion and ginger in oil. When aromatic and starting to brown, add mushrooms, broccoli and chickpeas. Add a touch of water and cover all to steam-fry for about 5 minutes.
   
4. Stir in cooked noodles and sauce. Garnish with sesame seeds and serve!
   

Note: Of course, any kind of stirfry ingredients will do--other vegetables, tofu, sliced meat, fancy fungus... go for it!

Side Dish idea: Hemp-y Pasta
Ingredients
linguine (or other pasta of your choice)
tahini
hempini (hempseed butter)
tamari or soy sauce
spicy black bean paste
hoisin sauce
water

Assemblage

1. Prepare pasta (i.e., boil a bunch of water, cook the pasta in it for about 10 minutes, drain in a colander, add some olive oil to keep separate).
   
2. Make sauce by stirring together ingredients from "tahini" to "hoisin sauce." When blended, add water to liquefy sauce so it will pour. Amounts used depend on how saucy you like your noodles--I found that a good cup of sauce spread well over about 1.5 pounds of pasta.
   
3. Mix sauce with pasta and serve! Of course you can make the sauce in advance and just throw it right onto hot pasta for an easy side dish. This is probably pretty good cold, too.
   

Note: To keep with the hemp theme, I suggest garnishing with nutritious hempseed oil, which is very very very good for you. Check the refrigerator section at your local health food store. Nutiva and Living Harvest make very tasty oils.