Sweet and Spicy Stir-Fried Noodles (Alex Gallegos/for The Gazette)

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Stir-fry is a great way to use ingredients taking up space in your fridge, especially those about to skirt past their prime and into the dark compost bin of despair, where good intentions of fresh vegetables sometimes seem to end up. But they’re also a good way to use up some unusual ingredients that you might not immediately have an idea in mind for.

Such was the case for me when I bought a tube of garlic paste and a tube of ginger paste for a recipe I was making recently. I used a tablespoon of each, and then had 3/4 of the tubes left. Figuring I could probably make them into a tasty sauce that would cling to some chicken, I started searching for other pieces to round out the dish.

The bamboo and broccoli seemed like a nice fit. Both would be nice and tender with a little crunch to them by the time the cooking was done, especially relying mainly on steam to refresh the broccoli and keep it from getting mushy. I was just going to use my sauce and serve over rice when I found the package of rice noodles and decided to take the whole thing in a different direction.

Recipe

Sweet and Spicy Stir-Fried Noodles

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 20 minutes

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 (16-ounce) package linguine-style rice noodles

2 tablespoons sesame oil

1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tablespoon gochujang

1 tablespoon roasted red chili paste

2 tablespoons garlic paste

2 tablespoons ginger paste

1 (8-ounce) can bamboo shoots, undrained

1 (10.8-ounce) package frozen chopped broccoli

1 (11.8-ounce) bottle sesame teriyaki sauce

1 bunch green onion

2/3 cup crushed peanuts

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions

Start a pot of water boiling. Do not salt.

In a wok or large skillet, heat sesame oil over medium-high heat. When hot, add chicken and cook until lightly browned outside. Add gochujang, chili paste, garlic paste and ginger paste and stir to coat chicken.

Add bamboo shoots and water from can, then top with broccoli, allowing steam from evaporating bamboo water to steam broccoli.

When broccoli is thawed and a vibrant green, add rice noodles to boiling water, start a 5 minute timer, and add teriyaki sauce to chicken and broccoli. Stir noodles and sauce mixture to prevent clumping and scorching.

When the timer expires, drain rice noodles. They will still be leathery and there will still be plenty of sauce in the wok. Add the noodles to the wok, stir well, and simmer until sauce is absorbed and noodles reach desired firmness.

Remove from heat, and top with green onions, peanuts, and soy sauce. Serve hot.

Source: Alex Gallegos

If you add things in the same order listed in the instructions, there will probably come a point where you think you have way, way too much sauce and that you might have measured something incorrectly. That’s normal. The same as we would do with wheat-based noodles in Italian cooking, we’re going to drain the rice noodles when they’re still too chewy and firm to eat, then let them simmer in the sauce for a couple more minutes. They’ll drink it up, and you’ll end up with a the whole dish beautifully and evenly sauced.

Now the only question for me is what I’ll do with the remaining little bit of ginger and garlic paste. Maybe a ginger-garlic bread. If you see that come up in a future column, you’ll know why!

Alex Gallegos is an enthusiastic home cook who enjoys trying new recipes and learning new techniques. Find this recipe and others like it at PlatefulsOfFlavors.com.