I’m not one to do new years resolutions, because I have no willpower at all. (I should probably have thought about that before I set myself the challenge of cooking every single recipe in this book.)

But if you are into all that healthy-eating-good-start-to-the-new-year-shit, then this is motherfriggin dish for you. (And may I just add that this is easy to make if you are hung over. There is something quite therapeutic and non-threatening about repeatedly chopping veg into matchsticks the day after binge drinking.) (Just sayin.)

I started by making the dressing. Then chopped all the veg whilst drinking my morning coffee at a leisurely pace. I didn’t even cut myself, despite the hangover shakes. I had marinated and cooked off some ginger-sesame tofu the night before, so it would be easy to throw in cold. (funny how tofu can go from looking like a bath sponge, into being something tasty after just a few culinary moves).

I had the wrong noodles, but so what? I used some rice noodles I found at the back of my cupboard. I know the Thugs would approve of me using what I had on-hand and being ‘scrappy as fuck’ (page xviii). Saved me going out in the cold, and leaving my guests unattended.

You can’t leave guests unattended. You just can’t trust ’em. Who the hell knows what kinda trouble they’d get into? Especially these guests. They had shifty eyes. (Guests, you know who you are. Don’t give me that look. You know it’s true. When I found you rummaging through the cupboards “looking for tea” we all know you were really looking for weed.)

Once I’d thrown it all together, which by the way was easy as shit, my plate looked like this, and tasted even better:

Please ignore that slightly burnt bit of tofu in the back. He’s got that slightly charred thing going on, which ain’t half bad, but not really that pretty.

See how I protect my guests from eating the unattractive bits of food? I’m a really good host, I make all my guests feel relaxed and at home. (Actually it’s entirely selfish, I feel the gnarly bits of food have more character. Give me a twisted carrot any day, or the burnt crust of a brownie that’s been in the oven too long. I love that shit.)

Anyway, when the dinner was done I held my guests at gunpoint and threatened to steal their dessert until they told me EXACTLY what they thought about the meal. Then I forced them to write testimonials for the blog. (See what a nice host I can be? I don’t know why people don’t come over more often?!)

Okay, so I didn’t hold them at gunpoint, or hold their desserts ransom. The guests were my two fabulous sister-in-laws, and they are both vegetarian and loved the noodles (and the TK lasagna, but that’s a whole other story.) So they suggested they’d write a mini review, for shits and giggles. (or in case you guys think my judgement is clouded by love of the Thugs…or perhaps strong alcoholic beverages)

Anonymous guest/sister-in-law # 1:

Such a great dish for lunch or dinner! I loved the combination of fresh veg, citrusy dressing and flavourful tofu, and definitely plan to make it for myself.

Anonymous guest/sister-in-law # 2:

I loved this dish, super fresh, zingy flavours, with a real citrus tang. I can imagine this would make a great lunch to take to work/school as it keeps really well. Definitely a good one for New Year virtuousness.

Personally I’m still surprised that I like tofu. But the ginger  complimented the citrus flavours SO well. I’d put this in my top ten Thug Kitchen recipes I think. So far anyways. There are still some recipes to go.

I’m just over half way into the challenge. I’ve made 54 recipes, so 61 left to go. I’ve got 174 days to go (5 months-ish) That’s a whole lot of cooking. I’d better get cracking.