Ginger Peanut Noodles

I have had a pad thai recipe in the works because it is my latest craving, but I am having some difficulty in locating all of the unique ingredients (i.e. tamarind pulp). I know, it's New York City, what gives? What gives is that I live on the Upper West Side and don't have the time or desire to schlep to Chinatown to a good Asian market, and regular grocery stores are so small up here, there would rarely be shelf room dedicated to strictly Asian cooking ingredients. Where am I going with this? Well, to satisfy my pad thai craving, sort of, I threw together a ginger peanut dish and served it with the spring rolls I made here. So easy and so good. I think this dish took me 20 minutes start to finish, including time to bring the water up to a boil for the noodles!

Ginger Peanut Noodles

12 oz. whole wheat linguine (rice noodles would have been great too)

1 cup water

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 T rice vinegar

3 T soy sauce (I use reduced sodium)

1 T grated fresh ginger root

1 red bell pepper, sliced and roughly chopped

1/4 cup scallions, chopped

1/4 cup roasted peanuts, finely chopped

Cook the pasta according to package directions. After draining, return pasta to the same cooking pot but off the heat. Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine the water through ginger root and process until smooth. Pour the sauce over the noodles and stir well (you may not need all of the sauce, so pour slowly and stop when you've reached your desired coating).

Satuee the red pepper slices briefly in a skillet coated with cooking spray, about 2-3 minutes just to soften them slightly. Remove from heat and toss with noddles. Stir in the scallions just before serving. Top each portion with a tablespoon of chopped peanuts.