rice stick noodles with vegetables, egg and airline peanuts

sean never eats his free package of peanuts when we fly places. they inevitably end up in the bottom of my purse, leaving me with a surplus of teeny packages of salted peanuts whenever we come home from a trip. in my opinion, a single packet is far too small to serve as a decent-size snack for most people, so i instead thought it would make an easy-to-crush and tasty garnish for a dish of rice stick noodles with vegetables and egg.

the veggies i used here can certainly be swapped out for whatever you have on hand. zucchini, onion, any sort of cabbage, peas, bell peppers–all of these would work well here. as for the sauce, i stuck to a simple base of pantry staples: sugar, fish sauce, sriracha, soy sauce and a little chicken stock to loosen.

2 t. vegetable oil
2 carrots, peeled into thick ribbons with a vegetable peeler
2 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 serrano chile, finely minced
2 whole green onions, cut into 1-in.-long pieces
1 c. grape tomatoes, halved
2 T. sugar
2 T. fish sauce
1/3 c. soy sauce, plus more as needed
1-2 T. sriracha, plus more for serving
chicken or vegetable stock, as needed
1 package rice noodles, soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c. cilantro, chopped
2 packages airline peanuts (about 1/2 c.), crushed
1/4 c. green onions or chives, chopped, for garnish

in a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until it slides easily around the pan. add the carrots, garlic, chile and scallions and cook for about 5 minutes until they soften and become slightly caramelized. add the tomatoes, sugar, fish sauce, soy and sriracha to taste. cook until the tomatoes start to shrivel slightly and the sauce has thickened and become bubbly and a little sticky.

add a little stock to loosen the sauce slightly, and drop in the rice noodles, tossing with tongs to coat them evenly with the sauce. taste and adjust the seasoning as needed with soy sauce.

pour in the beaten eggs, stirring continuously to ensure the eggs coat the noodles evenly as they cook. add the peanuts and cilantro right before serving.

heap the noodles into large bowls, and top with green onion or chive. serve with additional sriracha for those who like it hot. serves 2 generously.