Noodles with Miso-Almond Butter and Blistered Chiles
Noodles inspired by my current taco obsession
I’m having a moment with Anaheim peppers thanks to my current taco obsession in L.A.
José Manuel Morales Bernal is the master taquero at Tacos La Carreta in North Long Beach, and the mastermind behind toritos: a fire-roasted Anaheim chile tucked into a flour tortilla, topped with mesquite-grilled asada, melted cheese, finely minced cabbage, and bright tomato salsa. It’s smoky, juicy, and spicy. It’s all I want to eat and if you come to visit me in Long Beach, we will probably end up eating toritos on the sidewalk.
It turns out that the long, bright green Anaheim chiles were taken from New Mexico to California in the early 1900s where they were bred to be milder. They became popular in Anaheim, CA and they’re known as Anaheim pepper or Chile California. Before the toritos at La Carreta, I found Anaheim chiles to be mild and plain. Perhaps too weak when compared to Oaxaca’s chile de agua, or even a smoky chile poblano. But that’s not the point.
La Carreta opened my eyes that the Anaheim chile is basically a springboard to hyper-savory flavors.
For this noodle recipe, I make a sauce using white miso. The Tomoe Hokkaido Shikomi Shirotsubu is made with soybeans from Hokkaido that have been fermented with salt and a koji starter. But any high-quality white miso will work for this recipe, because of its milder and sweeter flavor. It gets mellowed out with almond butter, imparting subtle floral notes to the sauce. I’ve been really enjoying the Almond Butter from Justin’s, because of its drizzle-ready consistency thanks to the addition of sustainable palm oil. You can literally eat it like caramel by the spoonful.
The Anaheim chiles get blistered and the cabbage is slightly caramelized and seasoned with rice wine vinegar. The herbiness of the generous addition of fresh basil sets up the scene to bring out your favorite condiments for this noodle party: sambal, salsa macha, crispy shallots, eggs sunny side up, etc. How about some togarashi or furikake? Thinly sliced beef or crispy Agadeshi tofu? Finish it with lots of fresh lime juice and this punchy mixtape.