Creamy Lemon Thai Inspired Noodles

Some weeknights, you feel totally wiped just because it is the end of the week. All things considered it was not a bad week as things go. The weekend is not quite measuring up, the dad and the son are rather sick which does not make for fun.
The end of my weekend was a rather fascinating and unusual train encounter.

When you are a regular commuter you do learn to make the train your own space. I do this too, in fact there are certain things that I actually look forward to doing in the train, on most days it is a calm 35-40 minutes of uninterrupted time that I do not usually get other times of the day.
Anyhow this Friday evening, the train was exceptionally crowded, it was a smaller train and here I encounter a gentleman who was ready to unwind for the weekend on the front four seat booth. He was seated in one of the seats and had his book and bag on the seat that was right across him and had perched two cans of bear on the seat adjacent to him and was reading peacefully oblivious to the train beginning to fill up. Well, daunting as the thought was I moved in and informed him that I would be sitting on the fourth unoccupied seat. His look of welcome (not) was not going to make me travel stand on this lone Friday evening.
I returned amidst all the slush and wetness and after changing and my evening cup of tea, I faced my usual ritual of fixing dinner and scoping out the possibilities with the odds and ends in the refrigerator. This dish that I made to accompany the fish curry that I had waiting in the refrigerator was a winner. Rich, quick simple and comforting how can you go wrong?

Creamy Coconut Lemon Thai Inspired Noodles

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Serves 4 people

Ingredients

4 cups of water
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup raw peanuts (optional)
3 tablespoons oil
4 cloves of garlic
2-3 green chilies, minced
1 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons sweet Thai soy sauce (kecap manis)
1 teaspoon Sriracha (chili garlic sauce)

2 tablespoons low sodium peanut butter
3/4 cup light coconut milk
1 package fresh fettuccine pasta (the fresh does make a difference, I used basic Buitoni though)

½ cup finely chopped bok choi or winter greens
1 lemon
1/2 cup minced cilantro

Method of Preparation

1. Place the water and the salt to boil, while this is happening you can actually proceed with the chopping and prepping of ingredients.
2.  If, using the peanuts, lightly roast the peanuts coarsely chop in a food processor or grinder and set aside.
3. Heat the oil and add in the minced garlic. Saute the garlic lightly until it is fragrant and begins to turn pale golden
4. Add in the chilies and stir for 20 seconds.
5. Mix the fish sauce, the sweet soy sauce, sriracha, peanut butter together and add to the chili garlic mixture and cook for about a minutes.
6. Add in the coconut milk and bring to a simmer on low heat.
7. While the sauce is cooking add the pasta to the water and cook for about 3 minutes.
8. Drain the pasta and add to the coconut mixture and stir the bok choi or greens.
9. Cut the lemon, remove the seeds and squeeze in the juice and mix well. Add in the cilantro and the crushed peanuts (if using) and serve immediately
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Peanuts