The importance of turning up late

You can never rely on people, particularly when you’re cooking.
I have a mate of mine that I cook for all the time, I call him Rusty.
Every weekend barring death or dismemberment he dutifully comes over and I cook him something.

He’s the willing recipient of nearly all my food experiments and often goads me into creating things for him by telling about things he’s tried somewhere else.I know he’s goading me because he gives me this look, this slightly head cocked, slanted smiling mouth and squinting eyes, that’s meant to trigger my ridiculously competitive streak into finding out how whatever he’s tried is made and then finding a way to better it.
I can read him like a book but secretly I enjoy the challenge, I’ve learnt a lot of things that way including this recipe. A few years back when I had first moved into a place on my own I found I got into my little cooking experiments much more, I think because I could devote entire days to them without being disturbed, there was no one else to negotiate the space with and I could cook and potter to my hearts content. I would head down to the market and by something I couldn’t identify from the Asian grocers and then come back and try and work it into a recipe. I went through a phase of making lots of Asian inspired things as a result and Rusty and I would have many coursed meals of rice paper rolls with three different kinds of dipping sauces and various steamed veggies with rice and different dressings. It was after one of these feasts that he turned to me ever so innocently and said “You know, I really like satay sauce but I just haven’t found a really good one” and then he gave me the look.
I silently cursed myself for being so easily manipulated but couldn’t help but set my mind to coming up with the perfect satay sauce.
I had been thinking about it for a few days while I headed up to Bendigo to visit dad and by the time I came back the recipe was set in my head. I called Rusty and summoned him to dinner on my return.
I always ask him what time he’s going to arrive and then add an hour, he’s a busy boy and occasionally time to him is a relative concept. He said he was turning up at 7, a magical time he refers to as about 7 but which translates to somewhere between 8 and 8:30. I was born on the day I was due, that seems to have set a precedent for me in terms of how punctual I am and I’ve had to learn particularly when cooking for people that not everyone is as crazy about turning up to places on time. I have this dish planned of the special satay sauce and noodles with various steamed vegetables and grilled chicken breast; I’ve gotten most of it ready but was waiting til my errant Diner arrived before finally putting everything together. 8 o’ clock rolled around but I had built that into my buffer so I didn’t mind. 9 o’ clock rolled around and I started to get annoyed but tried to be Zen about things. 10 o’clock rolled around and I was starting to think of ways to dispose of his body, calling him and saying “hey man where are you” would have seemed the logical option but I was rather stubborn in those days and refused to call on principal, kind of a ‘you reckon you can be cavalier about time, I’ll show you cavalier about time young man’ situation, calling to ask where he was would have been admitting defeat dagnabit.

Finally just before 11 o’clock Rusty bounced through the door with a cheery “hey man sorry I’m late I had to make a prop for a show”. Bastard. Lucky for him I was too faint from hunger to kill him and I was able to get dinner together in about 15 mins. To commemorate his lateness I called the recipe “11 o’ clock noodles” they’re quick to make particularly late at night and most of the ingredients you’ll already have in the cupboard. You can serve it with noodles or rice and any kind of vegetables that you like, I’ve only tried it with chicken so far but I’m sure it would be great with pork or beef as well.
And in Rusty’s defense he is much better about arriving on time now, as a consequence though we don’t have 11 ‘o’clock noodles nearly enough.

11 ‘o’ Clock noodles

The kind of vegetables you want for this one and whether you want to steam them or stir fry them or even roast them will depend on what you do first with this dish, the chicken takes about 10 15 mins to cook and the sauce about the same so the vegetables will dictate the rest.
With the chicken I like to cook the breasts whole but butterfly them slightly so that they have an even thickness, I end up slicing them anyway but I like to cook them whole because I find they are more tender and have a nicer texture under the sauce, when you cut them into little pieces before hand they always seem to end up being slightly rubbery in texture I find, its all down to preference though so you do what you like, I put a little lemon juice on them while grilling for seasoning as well instead of salt.
For the sauce take a couple of shallots or half a red onion and dice, I don’t strain this sauce so I like to try and dice things as finely as I can, sweat the shallot or onion off in a little peanut oil with some diced lemongrass and garlic and a deseeded diced chilli, if you like things with some spice keep the seeds in this sauce goes well with a little chilli heat you don’t want them to colour too much you just want them to soften, if you don’t have a chilli then a dash of chilli sauce will do but it needs that heat if you end up using the sauce add it once the coconut milk is in or it will make things burn.
The smell tends to dictate when I add the next ingredient, when you can smell the perfect balance of lemongrass, shallot, chili and garlic add about 300mls of coconut milk.
I like the light coconut milks because they have less fat and leave the sauce tasting a little cleaner given that you add peanut butter to this sauce as well the whole coconut milks can be a little too rich.
Turn down your heat a little and let the coconut milk come to a simmer before you add a tablespoon of peanut butter. You could go all out and roast your own peanuts and grind them into a paste and add them, that would be nice but realistically the reason I keep making this dish is because it’s easy and quick and most people love it so I don’t mind the peanut butter.
Stir til the peanut butter melts into the rest of the sauce and then add a dash of Ketjap Manis and the juice of a lemon to taste. Stir that through and let simmer for another minute or two then assemble your noodles, vegetables and chicken and spoon on the sauce. Garnish with bean shoots, fried shallots or coriander or all three if you like garnish, it’s a good basic sauce that you can tinker with on your own