Cold Noodle Pork Bowls with Almond-Sesame Date Sauce
It’s getting hot out here at the farm and this cold noodle pasta salad is a welcome and refreshing dish to have on hand. This dish uses up a lot of produce from the farm and is bursting with a ton of flavor from the almond-sesame sauce. The sauce is fun because it’s sweetened with dates, spicy from ginger and pepper flakes, and perfectly salty from a combination of coconut aminos and fish sauce. This is a great dish that I think the whole family will love and I am so glad it’s a hit with our toddler too! Serve this chilled or at room temperature and enjoy all week long!
I hope you all love this tasty recipe as much as we do!
Cold Noodle Pork Bowls with Almond-Sesame Sauce
Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 20 minutes Serves: 6-8
Almond-Sesame Sauce- 3 large Medjool dates, pitted and soaked in hot water for 10 minutes and then drained
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos (can sub low sodium-soy sauce)
- 3 Tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
- 1-2 teaspoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger (+ more to taste)
- 2 scallions, minced (white and pale green parts only)
- 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- water to thin as necessary
- 8 ounces pasta (we used a sprouted whole wheat)
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1/2 of a purple cabbage, shredded (about 2 cups)
- 4 carrots, finely grated (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 4 scallions, minced (white and green parts)
- 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
- 1 cup cooked edamame
Preparation
- Prepare the sauce by adding all the ingredients to a small blender or food processor and blending until smooth. Add a few tablespoons of water to thin the sauce as needed. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Add the pork to a large cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, using a wooden spoon to break up the pork, until it's no longer pink and cooked through. About 8 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove the pork to a bowl and set it aside.
- In a very large bowl add the cooked pasta, pork and veggies. Drizzle with the sauce and toss until it's evenly coated. Taste for seasonings and adjust as needed.
- Serve warm, at room temperature or slightly chilled (if serving this chilled take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before enjoying so that the flavors have a chance to come back to life a bit and the texture becomes creamy again).
Notes
*Cooking times will very from kitchen to kitchen. Taste test as you go.
Hi this is absolutely delicious . I would like to make one correction, this did not take 20 minutes it’s more like an hour and lots of pans. But well worth it! . Great for a luncheon tooooo!!
Hi there! I’m glad you liked this dish so much! Sorry it took you an hour to make this. It should not take that much time. As I state in all my recipe notes “cooking times will very from kitchen to kitchen.” Glad you enjoyed this!! Happy cooking.
Hi this is absolutely delicious . I would like to make one correction, this did not take 20 minutes it’s more like an hour and lots of pans. But well worth it! . Great for a luncheon tooooo!!
Made it tonight and it was so good! Will def make again.
So happy to hear!!
Fabulous! I did change a few things – upped the ginger (yum!), used wax beans (didn’t have edamame) that I tossed in with the pork at the end of cooking to take the raw off of just a bit and just soaked some bulgur to replace the pasta just because it seemed simpler at the time. The dressing is so tasty and this would definitely be good with other variations too. Thank you for another awesome recipe!
Fabulous! I upped the ginger (yum!) and mixed it up a bit by tossing in some wax beans at the end of cooking the pork just to take the raw off because I didn’t have edamame. Then, I used bulgur instead of pasta because I just got lazy and didn’t feel like boiling water and cooking pasta. end result shows this is just another great recipe to use as a springboard. Thank you so much Andrea!
I made this for dinner tonight and my husband and I loved it. It was lighter than expected with the pork and the sauce was on point. I will definitely make this again. It also came together fairly quick.