Stir-fried Cabbage and Noodles

I love Chinese cabbage because the pale green top part of the leaves are soft and the lower white stem is crunchy. The cabbage creates beautiful textures in this stir-fry which also has one of my favourite stir-fry sauces. I have a julienne peeler that I use for carrots in stir-fries. They’re cheap to buy and make perfect ribbons of carrots for salads and stir-fries.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2 Adults
1 Chinese cabbage (about 250g when chopped)
1 carrot
1 spring onion
1/2 red pepper
1/2 garlic blub
thumb-sized piece of ginger
optional: 1/2 red chilli and sesame seeds
125g medium egg noodles
for the sauce
45ml soy sauce
30ml maple syrup
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp tahini (or peanut butter)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp chilli paste
1 tsp cornflour

• Mix the rice wine vinegar and cornflour together in a small dish. Put all the other sauce ingredients into a jar then pour in the cornflour mixture, screw on the lid and shake vigorously.
• Cut the bottom off the cabbage then separate the leaves and chop the soft green part into one pile then the crunchy white part into another pile. De-seed the pepper and chop then finely chop the carrot or use a julienne peeler to create carrot ribbons. Peel and chop the garlic and ginger.
• Cook the egg noodles in boiling water until tender then drain. While the noodles are cooking make the stir-fry.
• Put a little vegetable oil into a wok or large frying pan on a medium high heat. Add the crunchy, white part of the cabbage and the red pepper to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan (and chopped chilli if using) and cook for a minute then add the green part of the cabbage and the carrot. Stir regularly.
• Add the drained noodles to the pan and pour over the sauce then toss to coat everything in the sauce. Finely chop the spring onion and sprinkle over the stir-fry along with sesame seeds.