soy milk question

[tidee]

the longevity noodles recipe from cooking light uses soy milk in the peanut sauce. can i sub regular skim? or how about coconut milk? i think coconut milk may taste good in it, but i have never used it before. here is the recipe:

Longevity Noodles

Use the longest noodles you can find for this recipe; the length represents a wish for a long and happy life. The Chinese show respect for their elders at celebrations by serving them extra long noodles. Remember to serve the elders first.

Peanut Sauce:
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons minced fresh onion
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Marinade:
1 tablespoon dry white wine
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
8 ounces skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into thin strips

Noodles:
8 ounces uncooked thin spaghetti
Cooking spray
1/2 cup snow peas, trimmed
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup diagonally sliced green onions

To prepare sauce, heat oil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, 1 teaspoon ginger, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes or until onion is tender. Stir in soy milk, peanut butter, and juice; cook 3 minutes or until peanut butter is completely melted, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; cool completely.

To prepare marinade, combine wine, soy sauce, 2 teaspoons ginger, cornstarch, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper in a medium bowl. Add chicken; toss to coat. Cover and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes.

To prepare noodles, cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain and rinse. Set aside.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chicken; sauté 2 minutes or until done. Add snow peas and carrot; sauté 4 minutes or until crisp-tender. Stir in peanut sauce, salt, and black pepper. Add noodles; toss well. Sprinkle with green onions.

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup)

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 213(27% from fat); FAT 6.3g (sat 1.2g,mono 2.4g,poly 2.2g); PROTEIN 13.2g; CHOLESTEROL 16mg; CALCIUM 27mg; SODIUM 153mg; FIBER 1.8g; IRON 1.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26g

Ying Chang Compestine
Cooking Light, JANUARY 2002

[Canice]

Even if it's not Chinese, I would go with coconut milk (well, I'd use light coconut milk in this one) rather than cow's milk - it certainly pairs with peanut sauce.

[cherylopal]

I'm sure you could sub either. The skim wouldn't change the flavor too much but the coconut would add flavor- esp good if you like coconut milk.

Interesting thread- I usually sub the other way around- soy for milk and don't notice too much difference although in one bread recipe I actually liked the soy much better that the buttermilk!

[wallycat]

I'm sure you could sub either...you could probably even use chicken broth but the taste wouldn't be quite as silky.

Martha Stewart actually had a peanut sauce that used coconut milk and it was very good.

[tidee]

thank you everybody.

i was gonna make this as part of a meal for chinese new year, but we had a medical emergency and i missed it, so this is on the menu for next sunday instead. i had trouble finding looong spaghetti, too. american beauty used to sell it when i was growing up, but no more. mom and my sis found some at trader joes in madison when they were up there last week.

[tperes]

I am surprised the recipe does not specify plain soy milk. You definitely don't want to use vanilla flavored soy milk (such as Silk) in a recipe like this one. Although I bet coconut milk would be yummy!

Just a thought when I saw the recipe. I sub soy all the time b/c that is what we drink.

[Laurielee]

our supper club did a chinese new year theme on Saturday and I made this. I was just going to use regular skim milk. but since I found soy milk easy I bought it. I think you could, but the soy milk was really thick. So the sauce might be a little thinner, which actually is a good thing. I loved the flavor but it was kind of thick and pasty. And I even used less nooedles. I dont know if its because I used natural peanut butter or not.

laurie