by Xiomara Meeks – As a busy mom, I’m always looking for quick dinner ideas. One of my recent finds is Dan Dan Noodles. I found this recipe in chowhound after searching for ground pork recipes. It turns out the block of frozen ground “meat” in my freezer was not ground pork, but ground turkey. No matter. It worked just fine. In fact, I recently made it again with ground beef and it was great too.
Word of warning, if you don’t like peanut butter, this is not the dish for you. After making this dish, we recently found out our youngest daughter does not like peanut butter. How is this possible? I thought all children loved peanut butter. But I digress.
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 3 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon chili sauce
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
- Salt
- 1 pound spaghetti noodles
- 2 carrots, shredded
- 1 bunch of schallions, diced
- fresh cilantro, chopped
- Cook your pasta per package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of cooking water.
- Combine turkey, 2 Tbsp vinegar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk broth, peanut butter, oyster sauce, remaining vinegar and remaining soy sauce.
- Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey mixture and cook about 5 minutes. Add ginger until fragrant. Add broth mixture and simmer for another 5 minutes or so, until it thickens.
- Combine cooked pasta with ground meat in the pan. Add reserved cooking water as needed.
- Top with carrots, scallions, cilantro and lime juice.
Apart from being quick and tasting amazing, the ingredients in this recipe are easily found at your local grocery store. In order to make it a more “round” meal, I added shredded carrots and green onions. We also sprinkled it with fresh lime juice. Next time I make it, I’ll probably add bean sprouts.
For another version of this dish, check out Food Network’s version.
What are some of your quick dinner ideas?
Do you know someone who doesn’t like peanut butter?
