Cellophane Noodles with Ginger Peanut Sauce

I’ve been trying to eat healthier things these days, and one of the things that I’ve been trying to cut down on is gluten. I don’t have a gluten allergy or intolerance, and I’m certainly not going to give up bread. However, some people think that we would all feel better physically if we cut down on the gluten a bit anyway, so I’m giving it a shot. I picked up some cellophane noodles (otherwise known as mung bean noodles) at my local Asian market with the idea that they would be healthier for me. After checking out the nutritional information online, I’m not so sure that they are. They have more calories, more carbs, and seemingly less intrinsic value as a nutritional source than regular old wheat noodles. That said, they are gluten-free, so they have that going for them. Oh, and they are also wonderful to eat.

Cellophane noodles are actually pretty tasteless by themselves, but it makes them a fantastic base for all kinds of sauces and flavor combinations. One of my favorite things these days is peanut sauce – the combination of peanuts, soy sauce, ginger and  sriracha is amazing. I am also deep into asparagus these days since it is in season, so I decided to throw them into today’s impromptu lunch at the studio. A note on the recipe below: I generally don’t follow a recipe real closely when making peanut sauce. I usually just dump a bunch of the ingredients into a bowl and mix until I get the flavor where I want it. My recipe is a good guess, but don’t be scared to mess around with it until you find a combination that works for you.