Noodles with Soy Sauce

Our favorite restaurant in Madison (which totally deserves its own post before too long) has one dish that's gotta win the award for "most flavorful dish with the most boring name": Noodles with Soy Sauce.

For a while now, Justin has been trying to recreate this dish at home. And although each incarnation has been delicious, it's been quite difficult to recreate the real deal, so we've taken to calling this dish "Spicy Noodles" instead.  After lots of requests from me, Justin finally committed this dish to a written recipe for my Flavors of Madison cookbook.

Spicy Noodles

One small/medium onion, finely diced

2 large cloves garlic, crushed or diced

1 serrano chile

1 large head broccoli

1 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)

4 T sambal oolek chili paste

1 T Sriracha

1 T soy sauce

2 T Hoisin sauce

1 T Toasted sesame oil

1 T sugar

½ cup water

Noodles

1 block tofu

3 eggs

Chop the tofu, marinate it in tastiness of some sort, and toss it in the toaster oven while you do the other stuff.  Chop the onion, serrano, and garlic, and saute together in a little oil for a few minutes.  Meanwhile, start the noodles a' boilin'.  Steam the broccoli and mushrooms over the noodles while they cook, for 5-7 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix together the oolek, sriracha, soy sauce, hoisin, sesame oil, sugar and water in a bowl.  (You can add peanut butter if desired.)  When they are ready, throw the veggies and tofu in with the onions (which should still be cooking).  Add 3 scrambled eggs and stir continuously until egg is cooked.  Toss in the noodles and the sauce.  Cook another 2 minutes or so and serve hot.  Grunt at whoever you are serving it to.*

*An homage to our favorite server at Vientiane Palace, who also deserves a post of her own. Soon!